Graf, Murray, Massu & Co .: Our 7 tennis highlights from the Olympic Games - Part 2
Since tennis officially became an Olympic sport again in 1988, some memorable moments have occurred around the medal awarding in the "white sport". tennisnet.com lists the seven biggest highlights in our opinion. Part two now presents podium places 3 to 1.
by Stefan Bergmann
last edit: Jul 20, 2021, 07:54 pm
As mentioned in part one of our top 7 list of the greatest moments in the history of the Olympic tennis tournaments, there were two demonstration competitions in 1968 and 1984 before the “white sport” finally made a comeback in 1988. While Manuel Santana and Stefan Edberg were able to pick up the quasi second-class medals, the German players Helga Masthoff and Steffi Graf were the winners for the women. The two tournaments are not included in the official Olympic statistics.
Speaking of statistics: The USA won the most medals in Olympic tennis competitions with 21 gold, 7 silver and 13 bronze. Germany has 4 gold, 6 silver and 3 brozen, while Switzerland can look back on two first places and two second places. Austria only managed one silver medal in the distant past - in 1912 Fritz Felix Pipes and Arthur Zborzil brought the only precious metal for the Alpine republic under the black and yellow flag. And now, without further ado, we come to the podium places in our Olympic tennis highlights. After the men were in the foreground in the first part of our list, this time the women step in front of the curtain - and rightly so. Here places 3 to 1:
3rd place:1992 - Jennifer Capriati won the gold medal in Barcelona at the age of 16: Before Jennifer Capriati decorated the gossip columns of the tabloid press in the mid and late 1990s, she achieved a historic success at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona. At the age of only 16, the US-American maneuvered Arantxa Sanchez Vicario out of the tournament in the semifinals in order to prevent Steffi Graf from her second (or third, if you count the demonstration tournament in 1984) in a row at the Olympic Games. It was also Capriati's only victory in a total of eleven meetings with the exceptional German athlete.
2nd place:2016 - Monica Puig surprises herself and everyone else in Rio de Janeiro: Being there is everything, they say casually when talking about the Olympic Games. As world number 34. that could have been the prevailing thought at Monica Puig rather than expecting a tournament victory at the Olympic tennis tournament in Rio de Janeiro in 2016. With victories over Kapazunder like Garbine Muguruza, Petra Kvitova and Angelique Kerber, the then 22-year-old managed exactly that. It was also the first and so far only gold medal for Puerto Rico at the Olympic Games.
1st place:1988 - Steffi Graf sensationally manages the Golden Slam in Seoul: What other performance could be number one? Steffi Graf's Golden Slam in South Korea in 1988 is as awesome as it is legendary. The then 19-year-old won all the Grand Slam trophies in this special year and only two weeks after her US Open triumph she made the biggest exclamation mark that is possible in tennis. With a 6: 3, -6: 3 final victory over Gabriela Sabatini, the Mannheim native won the gold medal in the individual competition and is thus the only player to date who has achieved a real "Calendar Golden Slam". A deserved first place, as we think.
Click here for places 7 to 4 of our Olympic tennis highlights!