The tennis tournaments at the 2016 Summer Olympics will be staged at the Olympic Tennis Center, from 6 to 14 August.[1] The competition will be played on a fast hardcourt surface used in numerous North American tournaments that aims to minimize disruption for players.[2]
A total of 172 players are expected to compete in five events: singles and doubles for both men and women and the return of the mixed doubles for the second consecutive time. The Olympic tennis events are run and organized by the Brazilian Olympic Committee (BOC) and the International Tennis Federation (ITF), and are part of the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) and Women's Tennis Association (WTA) tours.
The 2016 Olympic tournament will be the fifteenth edition of tennis at the Olympics (excluding the two Olympics, 1968 and 1984, when tennis was a demonstration event), and the eighth since 1988, when the sport was officially brought back into the Games.
Unlike previous editions of the Olympic event, the 2016 Olympic tournament will not offer points for the players.
Qualification
For the singles competitions, the top 56 players in the world rankings on June 6, 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 less than four players already qualified to compete. A player could only participate if he or she has made him- or herself 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. 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.[3][4]
In the doubles competitions, twenty four teams are automatically qualified for the Games based on the rankings to be published on June 6, 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 have a partner to compete with. Meanwhile, the remaining eight teams will be decided by the ITF's Olympic Committee.[3][4]
Competition format
The tennis competition at the Olympic Games consists of a single elimination tournament. The size of the singles draw, 64, means that there are 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 are assured of an opportunity to compete for a medal, as the two losing semifinalists contest a bronze medal match.
All matches will be the best of three sets except for the men's singles final which will be the best of five sets. The tie break operates in every set except the fifth set in the men's singles final and the third set in the other matches (except mixed doubles), when a 'normal' advantage set will be played. In the mixed doubles the third set will be played as a match tie-break (10 points).
Schedule
| R1 | Round of 64 |
R2 | Round of 32 |
R3 | Round of 16 |
QF | Quarterfinals |
SF | Semifinals |
F | Final |
M = Morning session, E = Evening session
Medal summary
Medal table
| Rank |
Nation |
Gold |
Silver |
Bronze |
Total |
| 1 | | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | Total | 5 | 5 | 5 | 15 |
Medal events
References
External links
Andy Murray (GBR)
Serena Williams (USA)
Max Mirnyi & Victoria Azarenka (BLR)
