General introduction
(www.athens2004.com)
Updated: 2004-07-29 10:40

Tennis is an attractive, dynamic and highly popular sport at all skill levels. But to compete at a high level successfully, athletes must develop special skills such as technique, stamina, speed, reflexes and imagination. Among Tennis athletes, an Olympic medal is considered as the highest distinction:

Lindsay Davenport: “Winning at the Olympic Games was amazing. It is my biggest success.”

Andre Agassi: “In sports, nothing is as important as winning a gold medal at the Olympic Games.”

Steffi Graf: “Winning a gold medal is for me more valuable than any other money prize. I am certain that all athletes participating at the Olympic Games feel the same. Nothing compares to the Olympic Games.”

Boris Becker: “Nothing compares to this experience – not even Wimbledon. There you compete for yourself whereas here for an entire country.”

Yevgeny Kafelnikov: “To win the gold medal is beyond all my expectations. I am really proud of myself. I am really proud of my country. To have won two Grand Slams plus the Olympic gold means that my career is not going to be forgotten.”

Description

Tennis is played between two or four athletes. To score a point, Tennis players have to hit the ball with their rackets so that it lands on the opponent’s court without the opponent being able to hit it back. Winner is the athlete or pair to win three “sets” of six “games” each in the men’s events (best-of-five set match) and two “sets” in the women’s events (best-of-three set match).

ATHENS 2004 Tennis

During the ATHENS 2004 Olympic Games, Tennis competitions will be staged at the Olympic Tennis Center of the Athens Olympic Sports Complex (OAKA). Competition will take place within the span of eight days (August 15-22). A total of ten courts will be used for the competition: the centre court (8,000 seats), court 1 (4,000 seats), court 2 (2,000 seats) and courts 3-9 (200 seats). The total of men and women athletes competing will be 172.

Olympic Tennis consists of four events:

1. Men’s singles

2. Women’s singles

3. Men’s doubles

4. Women’s doubles