Singles, Covered Courts, Men

The 1912 Olympic Games began at 1315 on 5 May when Sweden’s Carl Kempe hit his first serve in his match with Jaroslav Hainz of Bohemia. The covered court competition had a much stronger field than the lawn tennis event which would occur almost two months later. The covered court event was not hampered by the concurrent competition at Wimbledon, which greatly weakened the lawn tennis events. In fact, the Stockholm covered court singles could claim one of the top international fields to date in men’s tennis. Although Tony Wilding was considered the top player in the world (see his record under lawn tennis men’s singles), he was defeated in the semi-finals by the British player, Charles Dixon. Dixon was favored in the final, but fell in straight sets to André Gobert of France. Gobert was the top French player in 1912, having replaced Max Décugis. Gobert was French singles champion in 1911 and 1920 and won the indoor French title in 1911-13 and again in 1920.