Tennis

Facts

Discipline of Tennis
Participants 1346
NOCs 95
Competitions held 71 (Venues)
Distinct events 20
IF International Tennis Federation

Description

Tennis, originally lawn tennis, was invented by Major Walter Wingfield, a British army officer, in 1873. The original name was “sphairistike”. However, tennis variants are much older than that. Court tennis or royal tennis, real tennis or jeu de paume, was known to have been played in the Middle Ages.

Tennis was contested at every Olympic Games from 1896 through 1924 as a regular medal sport. It was then discontinued, although it was on the schedule as a demonstration sport in 1968 and 1984. The reasons for dropping tennis as an Olympic sport were probably two: the International Olympic Committee (IOC) was upset that many of the top tennis players, though considered amateurs, infringed upon its strict definition of amateurism; and the tennis establishment, especially in Great Britain, was concerned that the Olympic events might become more important than Wimbledon, and did not wish that to occur.

Tennis returned to the Olympics as a full medal sport in 1988, as it became possible for full-scale professionals to compete at the Olympics, with no other restrictions. Still, not all top players attend the Olympic Games, as they consider it of lesser importance, or find it interfering with their preparation for the US Open Grand Slam tournament, which is usually held near the same time period. At the Olympics, men and women compete in both singles and doubles, and a mixed doubles event was added back to the program in London 2012 for the first time since 1924.

The medal table is topped by the United States, with 39 medals and 21 golds, and Great Britain, with 43 medals and 17 golds. Sisters Venus Williams and Serena Williams lead the gold medal count, both with four gold medals. Venus Williams has won a total of five medals at the Olympics, the same number as Britain’s Kitty McKane. On the men’s side, British player Reggie Doherty is the only tennis player with three gold medals. He also leads the overall male medal count, with four medals, the same number as his compatriot Charles Dixon and Sweden’s Gunnar Setterwall.

The governing body of the sport is the International Tennis Federation (ITF), orignally known as International Lawn Tennis Federation (ILTF), which was founded on 1 March 1913, in Paris, with twelve founding members: Australasia (Australia and New Zealand), Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Great Britain, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Russia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland. As of 2022, the ITF has 210 member associations.

All-time medal table

Olympic Games

NOC Gold Silver Bronze Total
United States USA 21 6 12 39
Great Britain GBR 17 14 12 43
France FRA 5 6 8 19
Germany GER 3 6 2 11
Russian Federation RUS 3 3 2 8
Switzerland SUI 3 3 0 6
South Africa RSA 3 2 1 6
Spain ESP 2 7 4 13
Chile CHI 2 1 1 4
Czechia CZE 1 3 4 8
Mixed team MIX 1 2 3 6
ROC ROC 1 2 0 3
Australia AUS 1 1 4 6
Croatia CRO 1 1 3 5
Czechoslovakia TCH 1 1 2 4
Belarus BLR 1 0 1 2
Belgium BEL 1 0 1 2
People's Republic of China CHN 1 0 1 2
West Germany FRG 1 0 1 2
Canada CAN 1 0 0 1
Puerto Rico PUR 1 0 0 1
Sweden SWE 0 3 5 8
Argentina ARG 0 2 3 5
Greece GRE 0 2 1 3
Japan JPN 0 2 1 3
Netherlands NED 0 1 1 2
Austria AUT 0 1 0 1
Denmark DEN 0 1 0 1
Romania ROU 0 1 0 1
Unified Team EUN 0 0 2 2
Australasia ANZ 0 0 1 1
Bohemia BOH 0 0 1 1
Brazil BRA 0 0 1 1
Bulgaria BUL 0 0 1 1
Hungary HUN 0 0 1 1
India IND 0 0 1 1
Italy ITA 0 0 1 1
New Zealand NZL 0 0 1 1
Norway NOR 0 0 1 1
Serbia SRB 0 0 1 1
Ukraine UKR 0 0 1 1

Intercalated Games

NOC Gold Silver Bronze Total
France FRA 3 1 0 4
Greece GRE 1 3 2 6
Bohemia BOH 0 0 2 2

Youth Olympic Games

NOC Gold Silver Bronze Total
Mixed team MIX 4 2 3 9
People's Republic of China CHN 2 1 1 4
Russian Federation RUS 1 3 1 5
France FRA 1 1 2 4
Brazil BRA 1 1 1 3
Colombia COL 1 1 1 3
Japan JPN 1 1 1 3
Argentina ARG 1 1 0 2
Poland POL 1 0 0 1
Slovenia SLO 1 0 0 1
Slovakia SVK 0 1 2 3
Belarus BLR 0 1 0 1
India IND 0 1 0 1
Bosnia and Herzegovina BIH 0 0 1 1
Lithuania LTU 0 0 1 1

Most successful competitors

Olympic Games

Athlete Nat Gold Silver Bronze Total
Venus Williams USA 4 1 0 5
Serena Williams USA 4 0 0 4
Reggie Doherty GBR 3 0 1 4
Vinnie Richards USA 2 1 0 3
Andy Murray GBR 2 1 0 3
Laurie Doherty GBR 2 0 1 3
Suzanne Lenglen FRA 2 0 1 3
Charles Winslow RSA 2 0 1 3
Mary Joe Fernandez USA 2 0 1 3
André Gobert FRA 2 0 0 2
Charlotte Cooper GBR 2 0 0 2
Edith Hannam GBR 2 0 0 2
John Pius Boland GBR
IRL
2 0 0 2
Arthur Wentworth Gore GBR 2 0 0 2
Gigi Fernandez PUR
USA
2 0 0 2
Hazel Wightman USA 2 0 0 2
Helen Wills USA 2 0 0 2
Beals Wright USA 2 0 0 2
Nicolás Massú CHI 2 0 0 2
Rafael Nadal ESP 2 0 0 2

Intercalated Games

Athlete Nat Gold Silver Bronze Total
Max Decugis FRA 3 0 0 3
Maurice Germot FRA 1 1 0 2
Marie Decugis FRA 1 0 0 1
Esme Simiriotis GRE 1 0 0 1
Sofia Marinou GRE 0 2 0 2
Xenophon Casdagli GRE 0 1 1 2
Ioannis Ballis GRE 0 1 0 1
Georgios Simiriotis GRE 0 1 0 1
Zdeněk Žemla BOH 0 0 2 2
Ladislav Žemla BOH
CZE
TCH
0 0 1 1
Aspasia Matsa GRE 0 0 1 1
Fronietta Paspati GRE 0 0 1 1

Youth Olympic Games

Athlete Nat Gold Silver Bronze Total
Kaja Juvan SLO 2 0 0 2
Zheng Saisai CHN 1 1 0 2
Iryna Shymanovich BLR 1 1 0 2
Orlando Luz BRA 1 1 0 2
Facundo Díaz ARG 1 1 0 2
Yuki Naito JPN 1 1 0 2
Hugo Gaston FRA 1 0 2 3
Kamil Majchrzak POL 1 0 1 2
Daria Gavrilova AUS
RUS
1 0 0 1
Tang Haochen CHN 1 0 0 1
Juan Sebastián Gómez COL 1 0 0 1
Jiří Veselý CZE 1 0 0 1
Oliver Golding GBR 1 0 0 1
Xu Shilin CHN 1 0 0 1
Jil Teichmann SUI 1 0 0 1
Anhelina Kalinina UKR 1 0 0 1
Marcelo Silva BRA 1 0 0 1
Jan Zieliński POL 1 0 0 1
Sebastián Báez ARG 1 0 0 1
Naoki Tajima JPN 1 0 0 1
Iga Świątek POL 1 0 0 1

Event types

Name Gender Still contested? Times held?
Singles Men 22
Doubles Men 20
Singles Women 18
Doubles Women 13
Doubles Mixed 10
Singles Boys 4
Doubles Boys 3
Singles Girls 3
Doubles Girls 3
Doubles Mixed Youth 2
Singles, Covered Courts Men 2
Doubles, Covered Courts Men 2
Singles, Handicap Men 2
Doubles, Handicap Men 2
Singles, Professionals Men 1
Doubles, Professionals, Handicap Men 1
Singles, Covered Courts Women 2
Singles, Handicap Women 1
Doubles, Handicap Mixed 1
Doubles, Covered Courts Mixed 1