Tennis at the 2016 Summer Olympics

Summary

Serena Williams was the defending champion in the women's singles, but she lost to Elina Svitolina in the third round. Unseeded Puerto Rican Monica Puig won the gold medal, defeating Germany's world number two Angelique Kerber in the final, 6–4, 4–6, 6–1. This marked Puerto Rico's first ever Olympic gold medal and made Puig her country's first ever female medalist.

In the men's singles, British flagbearer Andy Murray was the defending champion from the London tournament at Wimbledon, while Novak Djokovic was the number one seed and aiming to complete the Career Golden Slam. However, he was defeated in the first round by Argentina's Juan Martín del Potro. Murray defended his title, defeating del Potro in the final, 7–5, 4–6, 6–2, 7–5. With the victory, Murray became the first player, male or female, to win singles gold at two consecutive Olympics and the first player to defend an Olympic title since Serena and Venus Willams won the women's doubles title in Beijing and London. This, combined with a second Wimbledon title, becoming the first-ever three-time BBC Sports Personality of the Year and ending the year as the #1-ranked player by the ATP after having led Great Britain to their first Davis Cup since 1936 in 2015, contributed to his being knighted in the New Year's Honours List.

Serena and Venus Williams were the two-time defending champions and number one seeds in the women's doubles, but they lost in the first round to Czech pairing Lucie Šafářová and Barbora Strýcová. The defeat ended the sisters' 15 match winning streak in women's doubles at the Olympics, and also marked their first loss together in Olympic competition. Russian duo Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina won the gold medal, defeating Timea Bacsinszky and Martina Hingis in the final, 6–4, 6–4. Martina Hingis had been attempting to become just the fifth woman to complete the Career Golden Slam in doubles.

In the men's doubles, Bob and Mike Bryan were the defending champions, but they withdrew before the competition as a result of health concerns. French duo Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut were the number one seeds, but lost in the first round to Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah from Colombia. Spaniards Marc López and Rafael Nadal won the gold medal, defeating Romanian duo Florin Mergea and Horia Tecău in the final, 6–2, 3–6, 6–4.

Victoria Azarenka and Max Mirnyi were the defending champions in the mixed doubles tournament, but they were not able to defend their title as a result of Azarenka's withdrawal due to pregnancy. American pair Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Jack Sock won the gold medal, defeating their compatriots Venus Williams and Rajeev Ram in the final, 6–7(3–7), 6–1, [10–7].

Medal summary

Events

Medal table

Qualification

Main article: Tennis at the 2016 Summer Olympics – Qualification

For the singles competitions, the top 56 players in the world rankings on 6 June 2016 of the WTA and ATP tours are qualified for the Olympics. However, entry has been limited to four players from a country. This means that players who are ranked in the top 56 but represent the NOCs with four higher-ranked players already participating do not qualify, allowing players who are ranked outside of the top 56 but from countries with fewer than four players already qualified to compete. Of the remaining eight slots, six of them will be determined by the ITF's Olympic Committee, taking into account ranking and spread of nations represented, while the final two slots are awarded by the IOC to players from small nations.

In the doubles competitions, 24 teams are automatically qualified for the Games based on the rankings to be published on 6 June 2016, subject to a maximum of two teams per NOC. Players in the top ten of the doubles rankings could reserve a place, provided they had a partner to compete with. Meanwhile, the remaining eight teams were decided by the ITF Olympic Committee.

A player could only participate if he or she was available to be drafted to represent the player's country in Davis Cup or Fed Cup for two of the following years: 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016, with one of the years being either 2015 or 2016.

Competition format

The tennis competition at the Olympic Games consisted of a single elimination tournament. The size of the singles draw, 64, meant that there were six rounds of competition in total, with five in the doubles owing to its smaller draw size of 32, and 4 for mixed with its draw size only being 16. Players reaching the semifinal were assured of an opportunity to compete for a medal, with the two losing semifinalists contesting a bronze medal match.

All matches were the best of three sets, except for the men's singles final which was the best of five sets. The tie break operated in every set, including the final one (a first for the Olympics). In the mixed doubles the third set was played as a match tie-break (10 points).

Schedule

Singles seeds

Men's singles

Main article: Tennis at the 2016 Summer Olympics – Men's singles

The following players received an ITF invitation:

• Nikoloz Basilashvili
• Yūichi Sugita
• Taro Daniel
• Andrej Martin
• Thomas Fabbiano
• Radu Albot

The following players received a Tripartite Commission invitation:

• Mirza Bašić
• Darian King

The following players were originally in the entry list and supposed to be seeded but withdrew prior to the event:

• Roger Federer – Knee injury
• Stan Wawrinka – Back injury
• Milos Raonic – Anxiety over Zika virus situation
• Tomáš Berdych – Anxiety over Zika virus situation
• Richard Gasquet – Back injury

Women's singles

Main article: Tennis at the 2016 Summer Olympics – Women's singles

The following players received an ITF invitation:

• Mariana Duque Mariño
• Polona Hercog
• Magda Linette
• Zheng Saisai
• Teliana Pereira
• Ons Jabeur

The following players received a Tripartite Commission invitation:

• Verónica Cepede Royg
• Stephanie Vogt

The following players were originally in the entry list and supposed to be seeded but withdrew prior to the event:

• Simona Halep – Health concerns
• Victoria Azarenka – Pregnancy
• Belinda Bencic – Wrist injury
• Karolína Plíšková – Health concerns
• Dominika Cibulková – Leg injury

Doubles seeds

Men's doubles

Main article: Tennis at the 2016 Summer Olympics – Men's doubles

The following players received an ITF invitation:

• Lukáš Rosol & Radek Štěpánek
• Marcus Daniell & Michael Venus
• Thomaz Bellucci & André Sá
• Julio Peralta & Hans Podlipnik-Castillo
• Andrej Martin & Igor Zelenay
• Illya Marchenko & Denys Molchanov
• Santiago González & Miguel Ángel Reyes-Varela
• Sanchai Ratiwatana & Sonchat Ratiwatana

Women's doubles

Main article: Tennis at the 2016 Summer Olympics – Women's doubles

The following players received an ITF invitation:

• Gabriela Dabrowski & Eugenie Bouchard
• Misaki Doi & Eri Hozumi
• Lyudmyla Kichenok & Nadiia Kichenok
• Raluca Olaru & Andreea Mitu
• Tímea Babos & Réka Luca Jani
• Zhang Shuai & Peng Shuai
• Teliana Pereira & Paula Cristina Gonçalves
• Klaudia Jans-Ignacik & Paula Kania

Mixed doubles

Main article: Tennis at the 2016 Summer Olympics – Mixed doubles

References

References

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4. James Masters. (10 August 2016). "Serena Williams stunned by Elina Svitolina at Rio 2016 Olympics". CNN.
5. "Monica Puig tops Angelique Kerber to claim Puerto Rico's first ever gold". [[The Associated Press]].
6. Joe Posnanski. (8 August 2016). "Posnanski Rio Diary: Del Potro stuns Djokovic at the Olympics".
7. Kevin Mitchell. (15 August 2016). "Andy Murray beats Juan Martín del Potro to win second Olympic gold". [[The Guardian]].
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9. "Williams sisters upset in first-round doubles match in Rio". [[Los Angeles Times]].
10. "Russia's Makarova and Vesnina take women's doubles gold". NBC Olympics.
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