| Tennis at the 2008 Summer Olympics | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | 10–17 August 2008 | |||
| Edition | 15 | |||
| Surface | Hard (DecoTurf) | |||
| Location | Olympic Green Tennis Centre,Beijing | |||
| Champions | ||||
| Men's singles | ||||
Rafael Nadal Spain | ||||
| Women's singles | ||||
Elena Dementieva Russia | ||||
| Men's doubles | ||||
Roger Federer /Stanislas Wawrinka Switzerland | ||||
| Women's doubles | ||||
Serena Williams /Venus Williams United States | ||||
| ||||
Tennis competitions at the2008 Summer Olympics inBeijing were held from August 10 to August 17 at theOlympic Green Tennis Centre. TheDecoTurf surface rendered the event ahardcourt tournament.
Thewomen's singles event proved notable for being one of only two Olympiads — and the first since1908 — in which all tennis medalists were from the same country – with Russian women sweeping the medals.[1]
Themen's singles featured the first time an Olympic tennis player had medaled in consecutive Olympiads since the1920 Games,[2] while themen's doubles gaveSwitzerland its first medal in the event. The doubles also saw the return of Switzerland and the United States to the medals stand for the first time since the 1988 re-introduction of the sport.
Russia, the country that finished atop the medal table, won all three of its medals in thewomen's singles. This made them the first nation to win all three medals in anOlympic tennis competition sinceGreat Britain in 1908.[1]Rafael Nadal's gold forSpain made him the first Spanish tennis player to win a gold medal at the Olympics, and Nadal was also the first player from within the men's top 5 ranking to win in Olympic competition.[3]Serbia, competing at an independent NOC for the second time, won its first tennis medal; and theUnited States continued to be prolific in women's doubles, having won every competition (including this one) since 1988, except in 2004.[4]
Fernando González, who won the silver medal in men's singles, became the first tennis player sinceCharles Winslow (atStockholm 1912 andAntwerp 1920) to win consecutive Olympic medals, having won gold (doubles) and bronze (singles) in 2004.[2] In the men's doubles,Switzerland won its first medal in the event, andSweden and the US returned to the podium for the first time since 1988.
Retrieved from the Beijing Olympics 2008 official website.[5]
* Host nation (China)
| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Russia (RUS) | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| 2 | Spain (ESP) | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 3 | United States (USA) | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 4 | Switzerland (SUI) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 5 |  Chile (CHI) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
 Sweden (SWE) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| 7 |  China (CHN)* | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
 Serbia (SRB) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| Totals (8 entries) | 4 | 4 | 4 | 12 | |
The majority of players in the singles competitions (56 of 64 players in the draw) gained entry through their position in either theATP (men) orWTA (women) rankings. The remaining eight places were given to six players who gained ITF places (wild cards) and two who received invitations from the Tripartite Commission, which were intended to go toNational Olympic Committees (NOCs) with small teams.[6][7] For the doubles competitions, 10 players qualified directly. The remaining 86 places were allocated by theInternational Tennis Federation (ITF) based on world singles rankings.[8] This method of allocating doubles places angered some players, such asLeander Paes, and led to some perceived discrepancies:Martin Damm andPavel Vízner of theCzech Republic, ranked eighth in theATP Race, were not seeded, whereasNicolás Almagro andDavid Ferrer ofSpain, who were highly ranked in singles but had not played doubles together before, were seeded fifth.[9]
In the doubles, as in every team event at the Olympics, athletes had to compete on the side of athletes from the same NOC. This method of forming teams meant that Canadian world number oneDaniel Nestor[10] had to find a new partner (his partner at the time wasSerbNenad Zimonjić)[11] and led one South African player,Liezel Huber, to seek U.S. citizenship so that she had the opportunity to play.[12] Each NOC could submit a maximum of 6 players; this sextet could be composed of a maximum of four singles players and four doubles players (two teams).[8]
The rankings of July 9 were used to determine the direct entrants.[6] A number of tournaments, including the prestigiousWimbledon Championships took place between this date and the time of the Games beginning, and some players re-entered the qualification places during this time.Rainer Schüttler, who was propelled up the rankings by his semi-final appearance at Wimbledon,[13][14] went to theCourt of Arbitration for Sport and won his right to play at the Olympics, provoking a hostile response from the ITF, as it was a deviation from their original regulations.[15]
ITF places, ostensibly a form ofwild card,[16] were awarded to six players in both the men and women's singles, with one further place dispensed in the women's competition afterStephanie Vogt, entering via the Tripartite Commission, withdrew.[17][18] The four official criteria for ITF place consideration were world ranking (no numeric specification), whether the country was represented in the tennis event, the number of players on site, and geographical location.[16] However, there was some flexibility to these regulations: ITF presidentRicci Bitti stated that it was his intention for the ITF places to grant opportunities to young players and players from under-represented countries, and to reward players who had competed diligently for their nation in theDavis orFed Cup, or whom were former medalists.[19]
The ITF places were announced on July 30.Sun Peng was originally the only Chinese man to enter the men's singles, and did so through the ITF places. Accompanying Sun were multiple Grand Slam doubles titlistsMax Mirnyi andJonas Björkman (who was retiring at the end of the year),[19] nascent stars such asKei Nishikori andKevin Anderson, and defending championNicolás Massú. In the women's singles, the ITF places went toAlicia Molik, a bronze medalist in 2004, andChan Yung-jan, a young player, with the remaining spots going toMariya Koryttseva,Nuria Llagostera Vives,Ayumi Morita,Selima Sfar (a veteran Fed Cup player), andTamarine Tanasugarn, who gained the retrospective place.[19]
Despite debate being re-ignited about tennis's place at the Olympics,[20][21] and the attestations of some players (such asAndy Roddick, who chose to play an American tournament in order to prepare for theU.S. Open), that theGrand Slams remained the pre-eminent tennis tournaments,[20][22] the 2008 Games saw the strongest field of competition since tennis's re-introduction to the Olympics in1988. The singles competitions featured 17 of the top 20 men, and 18 of the top 20 women, with all of the top five men in attendance.[23] This was a huge improvement on only12 years ago inAtlanta, when only 3 men from the world's top 10 entered.[24] Players had been further incentivized to compete at the Olympics after the ATP and WTA began awarding ranking points as of the2000 Games.[25]
Apathy towards the Games was still present, as Roddick and 2004 Men's Singles silver-medalistMardy Fish opted not to play inBeijing to better prepare themselves for the U.S. Open,[26] and Tom Tebbutt, commenting forThe Globe and Mail (Canada), said "tennis appears headed for a downer at the Olympic Games".[9] However, many players expressed their enthusiasm for the Games, includingRoger Federer,Rafael Nadal,[27]Jonas Björkman,Nicolás Massú,[19]Andy Murray,[28]Jelena Janković,[29]Elena Dementieva,[30]Alicia Molik,[19] andVenus andSerena Williams.[27]Novak Djokovic andSvetlana Kuznetsova said that they felt the Olympics were of equal or even greater prestige than the Grand Slams, and Federer maintained that the Olympics were one of his priorities for the season.[31]
By winning gold in this Beijing Olympics, Rafael Nadal cemented his place in tennis history by winning gold in his first try. In the calendar year preceding the 2008 Olympics, there was a shift at the hierarchy of men's tennis asRafael Nadal displacedRoger Federer as the world number one, after hisrecord consecutive 237-week stay at the top of the rankings. From the second round of the2008 Hamburg Masters to the semi-finals of the2008 Cincinnati Masters (the last tournament before the Games), winning theFrench Open andWimbledon in between, Nadal had won 32 consecutive matches.[32][33] Due to the way the rankings are accrued, Nadal became number one on August 18, the day after the Olympic tournament, although this had been confirmed earlier.[32] Nadal was therefore considered a strong favorite, as was Federer, who, despite reaching two Grand Slam finals, had had a poor year by his standards.[34] Other top-ten players considered to be favorites included the reigningAustralian Open champion,Novak Djokovic, Spanish world No. 4 and2007 Tennis Masters Cup finalistDavid Ferrer,James Blake,David Nalbandian,Nikolay Davydenko and British playerAndy Murray, who was lauded in the British press after winning the Cincinnati tournament and reaching the semi-finals of the previous week'sToronto Masters.[34][35][36][37]
Three Chinese nationals appeared in the men's draw, but none qualified automatically, withSun Peng relying on the places issued by theInternational Tennis Federation (ITF), andYu Xinyuan andZeng Shao-Xuan replacing withdrawn players as alternates.[38]
By losing the final and thus settling for silver, Chile'sFernando González became the sixth tennis player, and fourth male player, in history to have won gold, silver and bronze medals in Olympic tennis. Following his gold medal, Nadal would later become just the second man to win aGolden Slam - Olympic gold in addition to the Australian Open, the French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open - with victory at the 2010 US Open (the first man to win a Golden Slam had beenAndre Agassi, who completed his set at the 1999 French Open after winning gold in Atlanta in 1996.) He would also be elected as Team Spain's flagbearer for the opening ceremony in Rio de Janeiro in 2016 after being forced to withdraw from the London 2012 tournament at Wimbledon due to tendinitis.
The women's game also underwent a period of transition in 2008.Justine Henin, the incumbentworld number one and reigning Olympic champion, retired on May 14, citing a lack of motivation for the game.[40] Since then, three women had held the number one spot, and two,Maria Sharapova andAna Ivanovic, had grappled with injury and poor form after successful first halves of the year. The pair were subsequently forced to withdraw from the Olympics.[41][42] The favorites includedJelena Janković, who assumed the world number one ranking on August 11, the second day of the tennis tournament; RussiansSvetlana Kuznetsova, the world number three,Elena Dementieva, who was a silver medalist at the2000 Summer Olympics, andDinara Safina, theFrench Open finalist who had won back-to-back tournaments in the weeks before the Olympics; and theWilliams sistersVenus andSerena, who had strong Olympic pedigree having won the singles (Venus) and doubles in 2000, and who had recently played each other in theWimbledon final.[34][35]
A trio of players also represented China in the women's draw, although all three qualified automatically, unlike in the men's. They wereLi Na, who was a semi-finalist at the Tier IDoha before succumbing to injury for most of the Summer;[43]Zheng Jie, who raised hopes by becoming the first Chinese player to reach the semi-finals of a Grand Slam singles tournament at Wimbledon;[44] andPeng Shuai.
Surface –DecoTurf II
The tennis competition at the Olympic Games consisted of asingle elimination tournament. The size of the singles draw, 64, meant that there were six rounds of competition in total,[45] with five in the doubles owing to its smaller draw size of 32.[46] Players reaching the semi-final were assured of an opportunity to compete for a medal, as the two losers in the semi-finals contested abronze medal match.
Matches werebest-of-3 sets, except for the Men's singles and doubles finals which werebest-of-5 sets. The decisive final set had notiebreak.[8] With athletes needing a two-game advantage to win the match, this led to one match's final set, the men's doubles semi-final betweenArnaud Clément &Michaël Llodra andSimon Aspelin &Thomas Johansson, extending to 19–17 in Aspelin & Johansson's favour.[47]
| August | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Morning | 10.30 | 10.30 | 10.30 | |||||
| Afternoon | 17.00 | 17.00 | 17.00 | 16.00 | 16.00 | 16.00 | 16.00 | 16.00 |
| Men's singles | Round of 64 | Round of 64 | Round of 32 | Round of 16 | Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Bronze | Final |
| Women's singles | Round of 64 | Round of 64 | Round of 32 | Round of 16 | Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Bronze Final |
| Men's doubles | Round of 32 | Round of 32 | Round of 16 | Round of 16 | Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Bronze Final | |
| Women's doubles | Round of 32 | Round of 32 | Round of 32 | Round of 16 | Round of 16 | Round of 16 Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Bronze Final |
Note:due to rain delays the Women's Singles schedule was pushed back a day.
On Day 1, the conditions were at ahumidity level of 89%, and ITF commentators felt that this, along with the heat and smog, would result infatigue for some players, especially in longer matches. Play did not begin at the scheduled time of 10 a.m., and was delayed until 12.53 p.m., when number eight seedJames Blake began his match againstChris Guccione on the Centre Court. The Women's Singles competition also commenced. However, play was suspended again at 4.26 p.m., and eventually cancelled for the rest of the day.[48]
Only nine matches of the 20 scheduled matches were completed as a consequence of the rain-disrupted sessions.[49] Blake progressed, as did fourth seeded RussianNikolay Davydenko, ChileanFernando González, CzechTomáš Berdych, and ArgentineGuillermo Cañas, who benefited from a retirement from his opponentFrédéric Niemeyer, who was a set up, and said that he withdrew from the match in order to save himself for his doubles match withSydney championDaniel Nestor (their match eventually took place the following day).[48] Blake said that he had been inspired to victory byfellow AmericanMichael Phelps, who won his first of eight gold medals inswimming, in the400 metre individual medley, on the same day. In the women's draw, DaneCaroline Wozniacki, AustralianSamantha Stosur, ItalianFrancesca Schiavone, and BulgarianTsvetana Pironkova all progressed.[50]
On Day 2, humidity levels again proved to be unfavourable for players, with some saying that it was the worst they had ever played in. Play was only mildly interrupted by rain, with three scheduled matches failing to reach their conclusion. Defending championNicolás Massú defeatedSteve Darcis (Belgium), andRafael Nadal came through againstPotito Starace (Italy) in three sets, in what theBBC described as a "tough" match.Roger Federer, still the top seed, progressed, as did other seeds such as SerbNovak Djokovic, ArgentineDavid Nalbandian, FrenchmanGilles Simon, and SwissStanislas Wawrinka. Former world number oneLleyton Hewitt came through a testing match againstJonas Björkman, 7–5, 7–6(2), andRafael Arevalo, one of the three players to be invited by the Tripartite Commission, won againstLee Hyung-taik, in what was his first match against a top 100 player. The highest seed to exit was Spain'sDavid Ferrer (number five). The number six seed, Britain'sAndy Murray, also lost, playing againstChinese Taipei representativeLu Yen-hsun. Along with Ferrer, number fourteen seedNicolás Almagro and the unseededTommy Robredo also exited, meaning that three of the four Spanish representatives in the men's singles went out.[51][52]
In the women's singles,María José Martínez Sánchez became the first player to progress on the day, knocking outAlicia Molik. Second seedJelena Janković won, as did AmericanSerena Williams, RussianElena Dementieva, SlovakianDaniela Hantuchová, and FrenchwomanAlizé Cornet amongst others, in their first round matches. Two seeds fell, both to Chinese opponents:Li Na defeated number three seedSvetlana Kuznetsova (Russia), and number 11Ágnes Szávay (Hungary) lost toZheng Jie. Afterwards, Zheng, a native ofSichuan, said the courage shown by the victims of theearthquake in May 2008 had helped inspire her to victory.[51][52]
The men's doubles competition also began, having originally been scheduled to start on Day 1.Chris Guccione andLleyton Hewitt (Australia) defeatedAgustín Calleri andJuan Mónaco (Argentina) 4–6, 7–6(4), 18–16. The match, which lasted three hours and 17 minutes, was the longest (in games, in a three set match) in Olympic history at 61. The previous record was held byTodd Woodbridge andMark Woodforde (Australia) andJacco Eltingh andPaul Haarhuis (Netherlands), who competed a 54-game match (6–2, 5–7, 18–16) at the1996 event. Elsewhere, defending champions Massu and Gonzalez exited,Steve Darcis andOlivier Rochus (Belgium) defeatedGuillermo Cañas andDavid Nalbandian (Argentina) in a match that exceeded two and a half hours, and Canada's only doubles team of Nestor and Niemeyer lost to the Murray brothers of Andy andJamie (Great Britain). Federer and Nadal both came through, with their partners Wawrinka and Robredo, respectively.[51][52]
Federer, Nadal, and Djoković, the top three seeds respectively, all saw safe passage into the second round on Day 3. However, Federer's countryman Wawrinka exited after losing to AustrianJürgen Melzer, in what the ITF commentary team called a "bad loss". Notable losers included Massu, who went out to number seven seed Nalbandian; and Davydenko, the third seed, who lost toPaul-Henri Mathieu (France).Gilles Simon andGaël Monfils were two other French players to progress to the third round. The match betweenNicolas Kiefer (Germany) andKevin Anderson became the longest singles match of the tournament up to that point, lasting three hours and twenty minutes, with Kiefer prevailing.[12][53]
Seeds who progressed in the women's singles included Janković (Serbia), the Williams sisters (United States),Vera Zvonareva (Russia), andVictoria Azarenka (Belarus). Number ten seedDaniela Hantuchová (Slovakia), who was being watched by her country'shead of state,Ivan Gašparovič, lost to rising starCaroline Wozniacki (Denmark), and the number eight seedAgnieszka Radwańska (Poland) lost to Italy's Francesca Schiavone. Number thirteen seedPatty Schnyder (Switzerland) also lost. One of the Chinese hopefuls, Peng, had the President of theBeijing Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games (BOCOG),Liu Qui, courtside for her match against Alizé Cornet, but she was beaten in two sets. Her compatriot, Zheng, came through another long match.[12][53]
In the doubles, BahamianMark Knowles, a Grand Slam champion and the world number seven coming into the event, was knocked out, partneringDevin Mullings, by theBryan brothers (United States). Mullings came into the Olympic tournament without a doubles ranking, and with a singles ranking of 1017. Other teams progressing includingMartin Damm andPavel Vízner (Czech Republic), who defeated Djoković andNenad Zimonjić (Serbia). In the women's doubles,Liezel Huber andLindsay Davenport (United States), both former Grand Slam doubles champions, came through. The other American team in the draw, the Williams sisters, came through a tough match against the Czech team ofIveta Benešová andNicole Vaidišová, as did Zheng and Yan against the Slovak team of Hantuchová andJanette Husárová. The Russian team ofDinara Safina andSvetlana Kuznetsova, which combined two top ten singles players, progressed too.[12][53]
Rankings points determine the position of a player in theATP (men's) andWTA (women's) rankings, which are based on players' performances in the previous 52-weeks. For the Olympics, the men's player who won received 400 ranking points[54]—put in perspective, this was 100 more than a win at the most prestigiousInternational Series Gold tournaments, 100 less than aMasters Series win, and 600 less than a triumph at one of the fourGrand Slam tournaments.[55]
| Stage | Gold medal | Silver medal | Bronze medal | Fourth place | Quarterfinals | Round of 16 | Round of 32 | Round of 64 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Men's singles | 400 | 280 | 205 | 155 | 100 | 50 | 25 | 5 |
| Women's singles | 353 | 245 | 175 | 135 | 90 | 48 | 28 | 1 |
