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All About Olympic Tennis - Atmosphere can become electric

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Crowd pleasers

Very little separates tennis on the professional tour from the game played at the Olympics. The rules and tournament format for singles and doubles are all the same. The strategy involved is no different and playing surfaces are similar.

The one distinct difference is that in Olympic tennis, players compete for their countries for the opportunity to win a medal. You could say the Olympic Games are another tour stop in the busy schedule of a top star like Roger Federer.

It's rare that you would find overwhelming crowd support for one player in a regular tennis tournament, but in the Olympics, fans can often play a key role in the outcome of a match. Since the crowds are very partisan, the atmosphere can become electric - similar to Davis Cup or Federation Cup matches.

The Inner Game of Tennis

The Inner Game of Tennis: The Classic Guide to the Mental Side of Peak Performance

by: W. Timothy Gallwey

Amazon Price: $6.87 (as of 05/27/2012)

I highly recommend this book for anyone who plays tennis (or any other sport for that matter) as it does a great job in dealing with the fact that many of our difficulties in tennis are indeed mental in origin.

Competition format

Men's matches in Olympic competition are best of three sets except for the finals, which will be best of five. All of the women's matches will be best of three sets.

The singles draw will have 64 players for both the men and women with the top 16 players being seeded. The doubles event will feature 32 teams for both the men and women and the top eight teams seeded. Mixed doubles are not part of the Olympic schedule.

The tournament follows a single elimination format. The semifinal winners will play for gold with the losers battling for bronze.

Olympic Tennis History

With the sport gaining popularity and credibility, it was included as one of the original events at the 1896 Olympics, featuring men's singles and doubles events. Four years later, women's singles and mixed doubles were added.

The first tennis gold medal was awarded to a man who was not expecting to win; in fact, he was not even planning to compete. Ireland's John Boland was visiting Athens and was a last-minute replacement in the singles event. The first woman to win a medal in any Olympic sport was Great Britain's Charlotte Cooper, who won gold in the 1900 singles.

Tennis's most decorated Olympian hails from the early game's birthplace. France's Max Decugis won six medals between 1900 and 1920. The greatest women's tennis Olympian came from the birthplace of the modern game as Great Britain's Kitty McKane captured five medals in 1920 and 1924.

Women's doubles was added in 1920, but after that, all events were discontinued for more than 60 years. Tennis re-appeared as a demonstration sport in 1968 and again in 1984. The reason for its lengthy absence was the debate over the inclusion of professionals. Once the details were finally agreed upon, the IOC welcomed the pros in 1988.

The Olympic Green Tennis Center looks like a flower from a distance

The flower-shaped Olympic Green Tennis Center is meticulously designed for natural ventilation to ensure the quality of the competitions for athletes and spectators.

The center's three main courts are dodecagonal with each of the 12 sides as a stands. The gray cement walls around each of the 12 sections form 12 stands which look like 12 petals of a lotus flower in the Olympic Forest Park.

With 10 competition courts, the venue covers a surface area of 16.68 hectares and has a building area of 26,514 square meters. The venue has a capacity of 17,400 seats, including 10,000 seats in the main court; 4,000 seats in the No. 1 cour; 2,000 seats in the No. 2 court; and 1,400 seats in the seven preliminary competition courts at the No. 2 platform. Next year, the Olympic tennis and Paralympic wheelchair tennis competitions will be held at the Center.

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