Tennis at the Summer Olympics facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Tennis at the Summer Olympics
Governing body	ITF
Events	5 (men: 2; women: 2; mixed: 1)
Games
1896 1900 1904 1908 1912 1920 1924 1928 1932 1936 1948 1952 1956 1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012 2016 2020 Note: demonstration or exhibition sport years indicated in italics
Medalists

Tennis has been a part of the Summer Olympic Games for a long time. It was first played at the very first modern Olympics in 1896 Summer Olympics. However, it was removed after the 1924 Summer Olympics. This happened because of disagreements between the International Tennis Federation and the International Olympic Committee. They couldn't agree on who was considered an amateur player.

After being shown as a demonstration sport in 1968 and 1984, tennis made a big comeback. It returned as a full medal sport at the 1988 Summer Olympics. Since then, it has been played at every Summer Games. Now, all players can compete, no matter their age or professional status.

Olympic Tennis Medals

At the Olympics, players compete to win gold, silver, and bronze medals. In some early Games (1896, 1900, 1904) and also in 1988 and 1992, players who lost in the semifinals shared bronze medals. In other years, there was a special match to decide who won the bronze medal.

Winning a gold medal in tennis at the Olympics has become very important. Many players, experts, and fans now think it's as important as winning a major tennis title. Some even think it's more special!

Top Gold Medal Winners

Serena Williams and Venus Williams are tennis legends. They hold the record for the most gold medals, with four each! Three of their gold medals were won together in doubles. They are the only players to win the same Olympic event three times.

Venus Williams has won five Olympic tennis medals in total (four gold, one silver). Kathleen McKane Godfree also has five medals (one gold, two silvers, and two bronzes). They are the all-time record holders for the most Olympic tennis medals.

Andy Murray is the only male player to win two gold medals in singles. He is also the only singles player to win the Olympic title twice in a row.

Nicolás Massú, Venus Williams, and Serena Williams are the only players in the modern era to win both the singles and same-sex doubles tournaments at one Olympic Games. Massú did this in 2004, Venus Williams in 2000, and Serena Williams in 2012.

What is a Golden Slam?

A "Golden Slam" is a super rare achievement in tennis. A player wins a Golden Slam if they win an Olympic or Paralympic gold medal and all four major tennis tournaments (called Grand Slams) in the same year.

If a player wins all four Grand Slam titles and an Olympic gold medal during their entire career, it's called a 'career Golden Slam'.

As of 2021, only Steffi Graf and Dylan Alcott (a wheelchair tennis player) have won a single-year Golden Slam. Steffi Graf achieved this amazing feat in 1988.

In doubles, Gigi Fernandez, Serena Williams, and Venus Williams have each completed a career Golden Slam twice! For men's tennis, Andre Agassi, Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djokovic have all won career Golden Slams. Serena Williams is the only player to complete a career Grand Slam in both singles and doubles.

In 2021, wheelchair tennis players Diede de Groot and Dylan Alcott also achieved the equivalent prize with Paralympic gold medals.

How Tiebreaker Games Work

2012 Women's Singles medalists: Serena Williams (center), Maria Sharapova (right), and Victoria Azarenka (left).

Since 2021, a special rule helps decide close matches. If the score in the final set (the third set) reaches 6-all, a 7-point tiebreaker game is played. To win the tiebreaker, a player needs to score at least seven points and be ahead by at least two points. If the tiebreaker itself is tied at 6-all, the player who scores two straight points wins the game and the match.

Olympic Tennis History: A Quick Look

Year	Events	Best Nation
1896	2	Great Britain (1)
1900	4	Great Britain (2)
1904	2	United States (1)
1908	6	Great Britain (3)
1912	8	France (1)
1920	5	Great Britain (4)
1924	5	United States (2)
1968	10	Mexico (1)
1984	2	West Germany (1)
1988	4	United States (3)
1992	4	United States (4)
1996	4	United States (5)
2000	4	United States (6)
2004	4	Chile (1)
2008	4	Russia (1)
2012	5	United States (7)
2016	5	United States (8)
2020	5	ROC (1)
2024	5	China (1)

Tennis Court Surfaces

The type of court surface used for tennis changes at different Olympic Games. Since 1984, most Games have used hard courts. However, there have been exceptions:

• The 1992 Olympics used a clay court.
• The 2012 Olympics were played on a grass court.
• The 2024 Olympics will also be on a clay court.

Having different playing surfaces can give certain players advantages or disadvantages. This is something you don't often see in most other Olympic sports.

Tennis Events at the Olympics

(d) = demonstration event (shown but no medals), (e) = exhibition event (played for fun)

Olympic Tennis Champions and Venues

     Players who won two events at the same Games. Here are the gold medal winners and the places where the Olympic Games were held.

Early Olympic Tennis (1896–1924)

Year and City	Venue	Surface	Men's singles	Women's singles	Men's doubles	Women's doubles	Mixed doubles
1896 Athens	Athens Lawn Tennis Club	Clay	John Boland	Not held	John Boland Friedrich Traun	Not held	Not held
1900 Paris	Cercle des Sports, Île de Puteaux	Clay	Laurence Doherty	Charlotte Cooper	Laurence Doherty Reginald Doherty		Charlotte Cooper Reginald Doherty
1904 St. Louis	Francis Field	Clay	Beals Wright	Not held	Beals Wright Edgar Leonard		Not held
1908 London	Queen's Club (indoor)	Wood	Arthur Gore	Gwendoline Eastlake-Smith	Herbert Roper Barrett Arthur Gore
	All England Club (outdoor)	Grass	Major Ritchie	Dorothea Lambert Chambers	Reginald Doherty (2) George Hillyard
1912 Stockholm	Östermalm Tennis Pavilion (indoor)	Wood	André Gobert	Edith Hannam	Maurice Germot André Gobert		Edith Hannam Charles Dixon
	Östermalm Tennis Pavilion (outdoor)	Clay	Charles Winslow	Marguerite Broquedis	Harold Kitson Charles Winslow		Dorothea Köring Heinrich Schomburgk
1920 Antwerp	Beerschot Tennis Club	Grass	Louis Raymond	Suzanne Lenglen	Noel Turnbull Max Woosnam	Kathleen McKane Winifred McNair	Suzanne Lenglen Max Decugis
1924 Paris	Stade Olympique Yves-du-Manoir	Clay	Vincent Richards	Helen Wills	Francis Hunter Vincent Richards	Hazel Wightman Helen Wills	Hazel Wightman R. Norris Williams

Modern Olympic Tennis (1988–Present)

Event info	Venue	Surface	Men's singles	Women's singles	Men's doubles	Women's doubles	Mixed doubles
1988 Seoul	Seoul Olympic Park Tennis Center	Hard	Miloslav Mečíř	Steffi Graf	Ken Flach Robert Seguso	Pam Shriver Zina Garrison	Not held
1992 Barcelona	Tennis de la Vall d'Hebron	Clay	Marc Rosset	Jennifer Capriati	Boris Becker Michael Stich	Gigi Fernández Mary Joe Fernández
1996 Atlanta	Stone Mountain Tennis Center	Hard	Andre Agassi	Lindsay Davenport	Todd Woodbridge Mark Woodforde	Gigi Fernández (2) Mary Joe Fernández (2)
2000 Sydney	Sydney Olympic Park Tennis Centre	Hard	Yevgeny Kafelnikov	Venus Williams	Sébastien Lareau Daniel Nestor	Serena Williams Venus Williams
2004 Athens	Athens Olympic Tennis Centre	Hard	Nicolás Massú	Justine Henin-Hardenne	Fernando González Nicolás Massú	Li Ting Sun Tiantian
2008 Beijing	National Tennis Center	Hard	Rafael Nadal	Elena Dementieva	Roger Federer Stanislas Wawrinka	Serena Williams (2) Venus Williams (2)
2012 London	All England Club	Grass	Andy Murray	Serena Williams	Bob Bryan Mike Bryan	Serena Williams (3) Venus Williams (3)	Victoria Azarenka Max Mirnyi
2016 Rio de Janeiro	Olympic Tennis Centre	Hard	Andy Murray (2)	Monica Puig	Marc López Rafael Nadal	Ekaterina Makarova Elena Vesnina	Bethanie Mattek-Sands Jack Sock
2020 Tokyo	Ariake Tennis Park	Hard	Alexander Zverev	Belinda Bencic	Nikola Mektić Mate Pavić	Barbora Krejčíková Kateřina Siniaková	Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova Andrey Rublev
2024 Paris	Stade Roland Garros	Clay	Novak Djokovic	Zheng Qinwen	Matthew Ebden John Peers	Sara Errani Jasmine Paolini	Kateřina Siniaková Tomáš Macháč
2028 Los Angeles	Dignity Health Sports Park	Hard
2032 Brisbane	Queensland Tennis Centre	Hard

Olympic Tennis Medal Tables

These tables show which countries have won the most medals in Olympic tennis.

All-Time Medals

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	United States (USA)	21	7	13	41
2	Great Britain (GBR)	17	14	12	43
3	France (FRA)	5	6	8	19
4	Germany (GER)	3	6	2	11
5	Russia (RUS)	3	3	2	8
6	Switzerland (SUI)	3	3	0	6
7	South Africa (RSA)	3	2	1	6
8	Spain (ESP)	2	8	5	15
9	Czech Republic (CZE)	2	3	4	9
10	Australia (AUS)	2	1	4	7
11	Chile (CHI)	2	1	1	4
	China (CHN)	2	1	1	4
13	Croatia (CRO)	1	2	3	6
	Mixed team (ZZX)	1	2	3	6
15	ROC (ROC)	1	2	0	3
16	Czechoslovakia (TCH)	1	1	2	4
17	Italy (ITA)	1	0	2	3
18	Belarus (BLR)	1	0	1	2
	Belgium (BEL)	1	0	1	2
	Canada (CAN)	1	0	1	2
	Serbia (SRB)	1	0	1	2
	West Germany (FRG)	1	0	1	2
23	Puerto Rico (PUR)	1	0	0	1
24	Sweden (SWE)	0	3	5	8
25	Argentina (ARG)	0	2	3	5
26	Greece (GRE)	0	2	1	3
	Japan (JPN)	0	2	1	3
28	Netherlands (NED)	0	1	1	2
29	Austria (AUT)	0	1	0	1
	Denmark (DEN)	0	1	0	1
	Individual Neutral Athletes (AIN)	0	1	0	1
	Romania (ROM)	0	1	0	1
33	Unified Team (EUN)	0	0	2	2
34	Australasia (ANZ)	0	0	1	1
	Bohemia (BOH)	0	0	1	1
	Brazil (BRA)	0	0	1	1
	Bulgaria (BUL)	0	0	1	1
	Hungary (HUN)	0	0	1	1
	India (IND)	0	0	1	1
	New Zealand (NZL)	0	0	1	1
	Norway (NOR)	0	0	1	1
	Poland (POL)	0	0	1	1
	Ukraine (UKR)	0	0	1	1
Totals (43 entries)		76	76	91	243

Medals in the Modern Era (Open Era)

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	United States (USA)	14	4	8	26
2	Russia (RUS)	3	3	2	8
3	Switzerland (SUI)	3	3	0	6
4	Spain (ESP)	2	8	5	15
5	Germany (GER)	2	4	1	7
6	Czech Republic (CZE)	2	3	4	9
7	Great Britain (GBR)	2	2	0	4
8	Australia (AUS)	2	1	4	7
9	Chile (CHI)	2	1	1	4
	China (CHN)	2	1	1	4
11	Croatia (CRO)	1	2	3	6
12	ROC (ROC)	1	2	0	3
13	Czechoslovakia (TCH)	1	1	1	3
14	Belarus (BLR)	1	0	1	2
	Belgium (BEL)	1	0	1	2
	Canada (CAN)	1	0	1	2
	Italy (ITA)	1	0	1	2
	Serbia (SRB)	1	0	1	2
	West Germany (FRG)	1	0	1	2
20	Puerto Rico (PUR)	1	0	0	1
21	Argentina (ARG)	0	2	3	5
22	France (FRA)	0	2	2	4
23	Sweden (SWE)	0	1	2	3
24	Individual Neutral Athletes (AIN)	0	1	0	1
	Netherlands (NED)	0	1	0	1
	Romania (ROM)	0	1	0	1
	South Africa (RSA)	0	1	0	1
28	Unified Team (EUN)	0	0	2	2
29	Brazil (BRA)	0	0	1	1
	Bulgaria (BUL)	0	0	1	1
	India (IND)	0	0	1	1
	Japan (JPN)	0	0	1	1
	New Zealand (NZL)	0	0	1	1
	Poland (POL)	0	0	1	1
	Ukraine (UKR)	0	0	1	1
Totals (35 entries)		44	44	52	140

Multiple Medal Winners (1896–Present)

Total	Name	Gold	Silver	Bronze
5	Venus Williams	4	1	0
4	Serena Williams	4	0	0
4	Reginald Doherty	3	0	1
3	Vincent Richards	2	1	0
3	Andy Murray	2	1	0
3	Laurence Doherty	2	0	1
3	Mary Joe Fernández	2	0	1
3	Suzanne Lenglen	2	0	1
3	Charles Winslow	2	0	1
2	Kateřina Siniaková	2	0	0
2	Rafael Nadal	2	0	0
2	John Pius Boland	2	0	0
2	Charlotte Cooper	2	0	0
2	Gigi Fernández	2	0	0
2	André Gobert	2	0	0
2	Arthur Gore	2	0	0
2	Edith Hannam	2	0	0
2	Nicolás Massú	2	0	0
2	Hazel Wightman	2	0	0
2	Helen Wills Moody	2	0	0
2	Beals Wright	2	0	0
5	Kathleen McKane Godfree	1	2	2
4	Charles Dixon	1	1	2
3	Max Décugis	1	1	1
3	Fernando González	1	1	1
3	Steffi Graf	1	1	1
3	Major Ritchie	1	1	1
2	Herbert Barrett	1	1	0
2	Belinda Bencic	1	1	0
2	Elena Dementieva	1	1	0
2	Roger Federer	1	1	0
2	Harold Kitson	1	1	0
2	Dorothea Köring	1	1	0
2	/ Elena Vesnina	1	1	0
2	Todd Woodbridge	1	1	0
2	Mark Woodforde	1	1	0
2	Max Woosnam	1	1	0
3	Mike Bryan	1	0	2
2	Novak Djokovic	1	0	1
2	John Peers	1	0	1
2	Victoria Azarenka	1	0	1
2	Jack Sock	1	0	1
2	Marguerite Broquedis	1	0	1
2	Bob Bryan	1	0	1
2	Zina Garrison	1	0	1
2	Edgar Leonard	1	0	1
2	Miloš Mečíř	1	0	1
2	Jack Sock	1	0	1
4	Arantxa Sánchez Vicario	0	2	2
3	Harold Mahony	0	2	1
3	Conchita Martínez	0	2	1
3	Jana Novotná	0	2	1
2	Rajeev Ram	0	2	0
2	George Caridia	0	2	0
2	Henri Cochet	0	2	0
2	Dorothy Holman	0	2	0
2	Dionysios Kasdaglis	0	2	0
2	Ichiya Kumagae	0	2	0
2	Robert LeRoy	0	2	0
2	Yvonne Prévost	0	2	0
2	Virginia Ruano Pascual	0	2	0
2	Helena Suková	0	2	0
2	Alphonzo Bell	0	1	1
2	Sigrid Fick	0	1	1
2	Juan Martín del Potro	0	1	1
2	Lucie Hradecká	0	1	1
2	Albert Canet	0	0	2
2	Stefan Edberg	0	0	2
2	Goran Ivanišević	0	0	2
2	Marion Jones	0	0	2
2	Arthur Norris	0	0	2
2	Hedwiga Rosenbaumová	0	0	2

Double Crown Winners

A "double crown" means a player won two different tennis events at the same Olympic Games. Here are the players who achieved this:

Year	Men's singles & men's doubles
1896	John Boland
1900	Laurence Doherty
1904	Beals Wright
1908	Arthur Gore
1912	Charles Winslow
2004	Nicolás Massú

Year	Women's singles & women's doubles
1924	Helen Wills
2000	Venus Williams
2012	Serena Williams

Year	Men's doubles & mixed doubles
1900	Reginald Doherty

Year	Women's singles & mixed doubles
1900	Charlotte Cooper
1912	Edith Hannam
1920	Suzanne Lenglen

See also

In Spanish: Tenis en los Juegos Olímpicos para niños

• List of Olympic venues in tennis
• Tennis at the Youth Olympic Games
• Tennis at the Mediterranean Games
• Tennis at the Pan American Games
• List of Olympic medalists in tennis
• Wheelchair tennis at the Summer Paralympics