By Randy Walker
@TennisPublisher
If you want to win the Olympic gold medal in men’s singles, you may not want to enter the Games ranked No. 1 in the world.
Since tennis returned to the Olympic program in 1988, no man ranked No. 1 in the ATP rankings has won the men’s singles gold medal. With world No. 1 Jannik Sinner pulling out of 024 Olympic tennis competition with tonsillitis, the world No. 1 man will again not have a gold medal around their neck.
Two woman have won Olympic gold in singles as the WTA No. 1 – Steffi Graf in her “Golden Slam” season in 1988 and Justine Henin in 2004. Iga Swiatek, the No. 1 ranked woman, is the big favorite to win Olympic gold in women’s singles in 2024.
Let’s look at how the world No. 1 men and how they have fared at Olympic tennis since 1988.
2021 – Novak Djokovic lost in the semifinals to Alexander Zverev
2016 – Novak Djokovic lost in the first round to Juan Martin del Potro
2012 – Roger Federer lost in the Gold Medal match to Andy Murray
2008 – Roger Federer lost in the quarterfinals to James Blake
2004 – Roger Federer lost in the second round to Tomas Berdych
2000 – Marat Safin lost in the first round to Fabrice Santoro
1996 – Pete Sampras withdrew from the event due to injury
1992 – Jim Courier lost in the second round to Marc Rosset
1988 – Mats Wilander did not enter the competition
The following are more detailed looks at the loses by the No. 1 ranked men in Olympic tennis, as documented in my ebook “The Olympic Tennis Fact Book” which is for download here: https://a.co/d/dKmkR0z
July 30, 2021 – Novak Djokovic’s dream of Olympic Gold and a Golden Grand Slam ends in a shock 1-6, 6-3, 6-1 semifinal loss to Alexander Zverev at the Tokyo Olympics. Djokovic, the winner of the Australian, French and Wimbledon titles earlier in the year, leads 6-1 and up a service break at 3-2 before Zverev goes on a tear to win ten of the last 11 games of the match. “I told him that he’s the greatest of all time, and he will be,” Zverev says of his post-match exchange with Djokovic at the net. “I know that he was chasing history, chasing the golden slam and was chasing the Olympics, but in these kind of moments me and Novak are very close. Of course I’m happy that I’ve won, but at the end of the day I know how Novak feels.”
August 7, 2016 – Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina, ranked No. 141 in the world and coming back to tennis after four surgeries on his wrist, registers a stunning 7-6 (4) 7-6 (2) first-round upset of world No. 1 Novak Djokovic of Serbia at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. “I didn’t expect to beat him,” said del Potro of Djokovic, who he beat to win the bronze medal four years earlier at the London Games at Wimbledon. “I’m surprised with the level I showed. After all the effort I’ve put in to get back to playing tennis, I’ve defeated the No. 1.”
August 5, 2012 – Four weeks after losing a heart-breaking Wimbledon singles final to Roger Federer, Andy Murray of Britain turns the tables on the very same court in dramatic fashion, easily defeating the seven-time Wimbledon singles champion 6-2, 6-1, 6-4 to win the Olympic gold medal in men’s tennis. Federer was not quite 100 percent fit after his 3-6, 7-6 (5) 19-17 victory over Juan Martin del Potro in four hours and 26 minutes
August 14, 2008 – World No. 1 Roger Federer of Switzerland is upset in the quarterfinals of the 2008 Olympic in Beijing, losing to American James Blake 6-4, 7-6 (2). “Big disappointment, obviously,” says Federer, a 12-time major winner but without an Olympic medal. “It was one of the goals of the season to do well here. The quarterfinals is not going to do it.” The
August 17, 2004 – In a self-described “terrible day,” Roger Federer’s Olympic dreams come to an end in a matter of hours as the Swiss is eliminated from both the singles and doubles competitions at the Athens Olympics. In singles, Federer is dismissed in the second round by unheralded No. 74-ranked Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic 4-6, 7-5, 7-5. In doubles, an hour after his singles loss, he and partner Yves Allegro, lose to Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes of India 6-2, 7-6 (7). “What can I say? It’s a terrible day for me, losing singles and doubles,” Federer says. “Obviously, I was aiming for a better result than this, but that’s what I got. So I have to live with it.”
September 20, 2000 – Just one week after being crowned U.S. Open champion, No. 1 seeded Marat Safin of Russia, bows out in the first round of the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games, losing to Fabrice Santoro of France 1-6, 6-1, 6-4. Safin takes the court barely 24 hours after arriving in Sydney from Uzbekistan, where Safin won the President’s Cup in Tashkent.
July 15, 1996 – Pete Sampras and Steffi Graf, the No. 1 ranked man and woman in the world, withdraw from the 1996 Olympic tennis competition due to injuries. Sampras withdrew due to an injury to his Achilles tendon, while Graf was forced out of the competition due to a injured left knee.
August 1, 1992 – No. 1 seed and reigning French and Australian Open champion Jim Courier of the United States is dismissed in the second round of the Barcelona Olympics, winning only seven games in a 6-4, 6-2, 6-1 loss to eventual gold medalist Marc Rosset of Switzerland. Said U.S. Olympic coach Tom Gorman when asked by reporters what happened in the match, “I wish I knew. He was looking like he was in prime shape to win a gold medal.”
