In 1896, Athens staged the first Modern Olympiad, fulfilling the dream of Baron Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the International Olympic Committee in 1894. He believed that the Modern Olympic Games would provide a platform for friendly competition in which all difference of status, religion, politics and race would be forgotten.

Over a century later, the values held by de Coubertin are still very much in evidence with the Games, providing a unique opportunity for tennis players to represent their country among athletes from other sports.

It is often forgotten that tennis was one of the original nine Olympic sports at Athens 1896. Ireland’s John Boland defeated Dionysios Kasdaglis to become the first Olympic tennis champion, while four years later, in Paris, Great Britain's Charlotte Cooper defeated Helene Prevost to become the first woman ever to win an Olympic medal.

The sport continued to be staged at the Games until 1924, with Laurie Doherty, Suzanne Lenglen and Helen Wills among the more notable winners, but tennis withdrew from the Olympics after 1924. After a one-off demonstration/exhibition event at Mexico City 1968, it returned as a 21-and-under demonstration event at Los Angeles 1984, and this time it was here to stay.

The comeback followed a determined campaign by then ITF President Philippe Chatrier, ITF General Secretary David Gray and ITF Vice President Pablo Llorens, with great support from IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch. The success of the event was overwhelming and the IOC decided to reintroduce tennis as a full medal sport at Seoul 1988.

Since its return the tennis event has gone from strength to strength. At London 2012, played on the grass courts of Wimbledon, the competition attracted record participation by the top players and drew capacity crowds for every session.

Many of the sport’s biggest names have won medals at the Games, including Andre Agassi, Boris Becker, Novak Djokovic, Stefan Edberg, Roger Federer, Steffi Graf, Goran Ivanisevic, Andy Murray, Rafael Nadal, Gabriela Sabatini, Arantxa Sanchez Vicario, and Venus and Serena Williams.

Wheelchair Tennis was introduced to the Paralympic Games at Seoul 1988 as a demonstration event and achieved full medal status at Barcelona 1992. It remains one of the highest profile events in the Paralympic Games and, in 2008, all the top players competed.

Tennis spent 64 years outside the Olympic family and because of this it is easily forgotten that it was one of the original sports when the first modern Olympiad was staged in 1896. Since then the map of the world has frequently been re-drawn, all the more so in sporting terms and not least the way in which the great distinction between amateurs and professionals has virtually been eliminated.

A whole way of life has been transformed. Yet if there is one thing which has remained constant, it is surely the Olympic ideal, allowing the cherished Olympic flame, that inspiring emblem of fellowship and international friendship, to burn more brightly than ever.

John Boland of Ireland, later to become a British Member of Parliament from 1900-1918 and one of the founders of the National University of Ireland in Dublin, was the first Olympic tennis winner. The competition took place in a tent, with some matches being played outside in the centre of the Velodrome. Boland, who beat Dionysios Kasdaglis 63 61 in the singles final, then teamed with Friedrich Traun of Germany to win the men's doubles. Olympic tennis was on its way.

No women's events in any sport were held that first year, but four years later the women were admitted as the Games moved to Paris, the city that was hosting the world exposition at the start of the new century. Great Britain made a clean sweep of the gold medals for the four tennis events that were played. Charlotte Cooper (later to become Mrs Sterry), the Wimbledon champion of 1895, 1896 and 1898, beat Helene Prevost in the women’s singles final to claim the distinction of being the first woman in any sport to win an Olympic gold medal.

The 1904 Games in St Louis were not the most memorable. They took part against the background of much wrangling between the eventual host city and Chicago, which had originally won the nomination from the International Olympic Committee. The programme of events started in May and ran, almost without interruption, to November! Many of the competitions held no obvious Olympic significance even though they came under the Olympic banner. The competition ran alongside the World's Fair that commemorated the Louisiana Purchase.

Because of the travelling difficulties that were commonplace with such long distances to be covered in those days, the European challenge was small compared with the 1896 and 1900 Games. Nevertheless, there were 45 competitors for the two tennis events that were staged, the men's singles and men's doubles. Americans struck tennis gold for the first time, with Beals Wright winning the singles, and then partnering Edgar Leonard to success in the doubles.

It was when the Olympic Games moved to London for the first time in 1908 that some discipline and planning at last came into the general organisation. Many of the regulations and principles laid down then are still in Olympic use today, or at least form the basis of present day Olympic rules.

In 1908, the format for Olympic tennis was changed again. Not only were the women's singles reinstated but, on this occasion, two separate tennis events were held. The first, on covered courts in May, was staged at The Queen's Club in London, and the second on the grass courts of The All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, in July, after The Championships. In those days, The All England Club was based on Worple Road in Wimbledon, only switching to the current Church Road site in 1922 when popularity demanded a larger venue.

For the indoor event, Sweden and Great Britain were the only countries represented, with Britain's Arthur Gore who was to go on to win Wimbledon a few weeks later, defeating his teammate George Caridia 63 75 64 to take the gold medal. There was also an all-British final in the women's singles in which Gladys Eastlake-Smith finally overcame Alice Greene 62 46 60. To complete a successful week, two days after winning the gold medal, Gladys Eastlake-Smith got married.

The event after Wimbledon, however, generated far more interest. In fact, with contingents from Austria and Bohemia adding fresh interest to the young and exciting teams from Germany and South Africa, in addition to those from nations where tennis was already firmly established. The number of countries represented was larger than at Wimbledon itself.

Indeed it was the unexpected success of the frail-looking German, Otto Froitzheim, in reaching the final that was the feature of the meeting. Playing at Wimbledon for the first time, Froitzheim calmly overcame the slippery conditions and the exclusive atmosphere of the old Worple Road centre court to win four rounds with much baseline versatility before losing to the stolid Englishman, Josiah Ritchie.

Sadly the women's singles degenerated into farce. Of the original 13 entries, only seven (all from Great Britain) turned up, with two of the best-known withdrawing: Blanche Hillyard, six times the Wimbledon champion, and Charlotte Sterry, who had just won Wimbledon for a fifth time. As a result, only four matches were required to win the gold medal, which went to another of the legendary tennis players of the day, Dorothea Lambert Chambers.

Logistical problems continued to belittle the Olympic tennis at Stockholm 1912. Again both indoor and outdoor events were held and a mixed doubles competition was added to each, but the outdoor event conflicted with Wimbledon, so none of the leading British, French or American players travelled to Sweden, at least for the men's events.

Interest in the indoor event was so intense that even members of the Swedish Royal Family, who were to become great benefactors to the sport in its developing years, attended daily the matches held at the Royal Courts. Spectators queued for up to three hours to find seats amid the limited accommodation, and some resorted to sitting on rafters.

There was a major surprise in the semifinal of the men's singles when the Briton Charles Dixon beat the New Zealander Anthony Wilding over four sets. In the final, Dixon could not rebuff the confident Frenchman Andre Gobert, who took the gold medal 86 64 64.

Great Britain’s Edith Hannam won the women's singles title without dropping a set, but she only had to play three matches as there were a mere eight competitors. She beat Sophie Castenschiold of Denmark 64 63 in the final after trailing 0-3 in both sets.

There was a summer heatwave in Sweden and, perhaps predictably, it was the South Africans who seemed to enjoy the baking temperatures most of all in the outdoor event. Not only were they more accustomed to playing in such conditions, but their physical strength and overall skill brought Harry Kitson and Charles Winslow to the most memorable match of the competition. Winslow took the gold medal by winning over four exhausting sets 75 46 108 86.

Marguerite Broquedis of France looked in a class of her own in the women's singles, although Dorothea Koring from Germany kept her on court an uncomfortably long time before succumbing 46 63 64 in the final.

The First World War (1914-18) naturally meant that plans for an Olympic Games in 1916 had to be abandoned. In 1920, everyone re-assembled in Antwerp, although with desperately little time or opportunity for the Belgian Committee to gather resources and organise anything other than a rather impromptu event.

In May 1920, an inaugural service was held in the imposing Cathedral of Antwerp to remember all those athletes who had perished in the recent hostilities. The Opening Ceremony of the Games that followed included, for the first time, the public taking of the Olympic Oath by all the athletes. It was also the first time that the Olympic flag with the five-ringed emblem, which is now such a recognised symbol of the event, had been seen at the Games.

Despite the logisitical difficulties, the 1920 Games were for the most part a huge success, if only in that they firmly re-established the Olympics. But tennis had its fair share of the problems. Conditions in a venue within shouting distance of the main stadium – and packed with 30,000 spectators – were noisy, and the facilities generally spartan. No hot water and no towels, for instance.

Yet the sheer enthusiastic delight at competing again put paid to any gripes, and the emergence of "new" tennis countries, like Spain and Czechoslovakia, provided greater interest than ever before. There was a singles draw of 44 men and 21 women, representing 15 countries, although Germany and USA, who had asked for the dates to be changed, were not among them.

South Africa's Louis Raymond eventually took the gold medal, beating his fellow left-hander Ichiya Kumagai from Japan with endless precise dropshots and lobs 57 64 75 64. Conditions were hardly ideal with the surface soggy from the rain that bedevilled the tournament, but the matches were well contested.

The women's singles was triumphant for the singularly exciting Suzanne Lenglen, the pride of France, who became one of the legendary figures in the game. Her extraordinary athletic talent, matched by an autocratic personality and balletic elegance, subdued all other competitors and she reigned supreme. In the final she beat Dorothy Holman from Britain 63 60.

So to Paris in 1924 and an Olympic Games staged amid sweltering heat. Once again tennis seemed to be the exception when it came to the smooth organisation of the event. Instead of allowing the French Tennis Federation to arrange and organise the events at one of the best equipped clubs in Paris, a harassed IOC selected what could only be described as a piece of waste ground near the main stadium at Colombes.

The American team was one of the first to arrive and found, to its horror, courts which were unplayable, and changing facilities which were rudimentary in the extreme. The men's accommodation was half a mile from the courts. The so-called accommodation for the women was a wooden hut that was invariably locked for much of the day.

The pity was that 28 countries had sent between them 142 competitors, 99 men and 43 women, including top players such as France’s Jean Borotra, Rene Lacoste and Henri Cochet, and Vincent Richards of the United States. Although Lenglen was missing, still suffering from the illness which had also kept her from competing at Wimbledon a few weeks earlier, the Americans sent Helen Wills and Hazel Wightman, while the British contingent included the newly-crowned Wimbledon champion, Kitty McKane.

For all the frustrations, much of the tennis was nevertheless of a high quality, with Richards taking the men's singles title 64 64 57 46 62 from Cochet, and Wills taking the women's singles crown and her second Olympic gold medal by winning the final against Julie Vlasto of France 62 62.

One wonders how today's professional players would have reacted to the difficulties encountered by their predecessors. Such was the indignation of the tennis authorities at the treatment of their sport, not just on this occasion but for several years, that the International Lawn Tennis Federation (ILTF) - the 'Lawn' was dropped from the title in 1977 - put forward several proposals for change to the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

The main suggestions were that: 1) the ILTF be granted at least one representative on the IOC; 2) the ILTF be allowed to co-operate in the technical and material organisation of tennis at the Games; 3) the IOC drop its demand for Wimbledon not to be held in any Olympic year. When the IOC refused to recognise any of the requests, the ILTF had little option but to withdraw tennis from Olympic competition.

Yet deep down the spirit evoked by the Olympic flame was never wholly extinguished. In 1968 – ironically the year in which tennis faced up to the facts of commercial life by accepting the concept of 'open' rather than strictly amateur events – tennis was included in the Olympic Games in Mexico, although only as a exhibition/demonstration sport.

Tennis staged a 21 & under demonstration event at Los Angeles 1984, although by then the long, determined campaign to have tennis welcomed back as a full medal sport was well into its stride.

The champion of the cause was David Gray, then General Secretary of the International Tennis Federation (ITF), who sadly died before all his work had come to fruition. His belief in the merits of tennis returning to the Olympic fold was unshakeable, and he had equally enthusiastic and determined support in this belief from the ITF President, Philippe Chatrier of France, and the Vice President, Pablo Llorens of Spain.

The Olympic Tennis Event in Los Angeles attracted capacity 6,000 crowds each day. Its success, as well as the growing awareness both within and beyond the IOC that Olympic membership assists with the grass roots development of any sport, made the decision to readmit tennis into the Olympics seem appropriate. It was ultimately decided that the world's finest tennis players should once again be allowed to compete for gold medals, along with their leading counterparts in other sports at this greatest of all sports gatherings.

The respective singles winners in 1984, Stefan Edberg and Steffi Graf, led the way again as top seeds in Seoul. Both were also the Wimbledon champions at the time. Graf went on to complete what has become known as her "Golden Slam" (she had already won all four Grand Slam tournaments that year), beating Gabriela Sabatini 63 63 in the Olympic final. However, Edberg lost a classic, marathon semifinal in the men's singles against Miloslav Mecir, who went on to beat Tim Mayotte 36 62 64 62 for the gold medal.

Although only 11 of the world's Top 20 competed in the men's event at Seoul 1988, by the time Barcelona came round four years later, the Olympic appeal had really caught on. All of the world's Top 5 men – Jim Courier, Stefan Edberg, Boris Becker, Goran Ivanisevic and Pete Sampras – took part.

Yet at the end of a wonderful event, it was Switzerland's Marc Rosset who carried off the gold, winning a dramatic five-set final against Spain's Jordi Arrese 76(2) 64 36 46 86. Along the way Rosset had beaten both Courier and Ivanisevic, the proud bearer of the Croatian flag during the opening ceremony.

Ivanisevic ran out of energy in the semifinals after having battled through four successive five-set matches on the slow clay to get there. Ivanisevic won a bronze medal in singles and, with Goran Prpic, another bronze in doubles.

Germany's Boris Becker and Michael Stich, who won the gold medal in doubles, helped provide the perfect riposte to those who hinted that the top players were still not totally committed.

With the King and Queen of Spain as ardent supporters, there was naturally considerable pressure on the Barcelona native Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario to win gold in the women's singles, but in the semifinals she was outlasted by an inspired Jennifer Capriati. Capriati went on to play one of her greatest matches to beat Graf from a set down in the final 36 63 64.

Stone Mountain Park, 16 miles east of Atlanta, was the setting for the 1996 Olympic Tennis Event where the respective singles champions, Andre Agassi and Lindsay Davenport, naturally enjoyed ecstatic support from the large American crowds.

Davenport, the ninth seed, dropped only one set in reaching the final where she beat Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario 76(8) 62. The bronze medal went to Jana Novotna in a play-off against Mary Joe Fernandez, who had the compensation of winning gold in the doubles with Gigi Fernandez - no relation! That was actually a historic moment for the Fernandez duo, as they became the only players to successfuly defend an Olympic tennis title, having also won gold in Barcelona.

From what was eventually a weaker than expected men's singles field, including only three of the Top 10, Agassi was fortunate to survive a stormy quarterfinal against Wayne Ferreira, in which he might have been disqualified for losing his temper as well as his serve.

But, in a one-sided final, he swept away Spain's Sergi Bruguera 62 63 61 in 77 minutes and watched by his father, a member of the Iranian Olympic boxing team in the 1952 Games, called it "the greatest accomplishment I have ever had in the sport." Leander Paes from India earned the bronze.

Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde, won a first tennis gold medal for Australia. Having saved two match points in the semifinal against the Dutchmen Jacco Eltingh and Paul Haarhuis, the "Woodies" beat Great Britain's Neil Broad and Tim Henman for the golden glory.

What Woodbridge and Woodforde discovered in Atlanta, Yevgeny Kafelnikov had confirmed in Sydney: however many Grand Slam titles you win on the tennis tour, an Olympic gold medal counts for more among a large swathe of sports fans.

Kafelnikov, who had become Russia’s first player to be ranked world No. 1 after winning the French Open in 1996 and Australian Open in 1999, cites his gold medal from the 2000 Sydney Olympics as his greatest achievement, and the one he is most respected for back home. He beat Tommy Haas in the gold medal match.

The smile on the face of Arnaud Di Pasquale when he beat Roger Federer to take bronze – and Federer’s corresponding dejection – also testify to how much any medal means to even the biggest-earning tennis professionals.

If Steffi Graf had gilded her Grand Slam in 1988, Venus Williams did something similar in 2000. Arriving in Sydney unbeaten since the French Open, the elder of the two tennis-playing sisters prevented Russia from taking both singles gold medals when she beat Elena Dementieva to extend her personal unbeaten run to 35 matches. She also took the doubles gold with her sister, Serena.

An innovation for the Sydney tennis event was the introduction of ranking points for the men. There is a school of thought that says the Olympics itself is enough of an incentive without the need for a player to earn ranking points. But the counter argument is that, as the Olympic tennis championships are such a prestigious event, the best performances should be a contributory factor in a player’s personal ranking.

Four years later in Athens, where concerns that some of the Olympic venues wouldn’t be ready in time were thankfully unfounded, ranking points became available for women, too. Justine Henin, then playing under her married name of Henin-Hardenne, cashed in by taking the singles gold medal, confirming her position as the world’s top player.

Henin’s toughest match was a three-set battle with Anastasia Myskina in the semifinals, which spurred her on to gold but had a contrasting effect on her opponent. The Belgian went on to defeat Amelie Mauresmo 63 64 in the final, while a jaded Myskina fell to Alicia Molik in the bronze medal play-off.

The women’s doubles saw the emergence on the tennis scene of China, a good sign ahead of the imminent Games in Beijing. Li Ting and Sun Tian-Tian sealed the gold medal with a 63 63 victory over Spain’s Conchita Martinez and Virginia Ruano Pascual. Despite the loss it was a historic moment for Martinez, who became the first tennis player in Olympic history to win a medal at three separate Games (the Williams sisters have since equalled this record).

But the Athens tennis event will long be remembered for one country, Chile, and one man in particular, Nicolas Massu. The man from Vina del Mar stormed through the men’s singles draw, accounting for two former world No. 1s, Gustavo Kuerten and Carlos Moya, in the early rounds. After beating Taylor Dent in the semifinals, he found himself up against another American in the final, Mardy Fish, and it took all his effort to come from behind and win an epic encounter 63 36 26 63 64.

And there was more to come from Massu. After his compatriot Fernando Gonzalez overcame Dent to claim bronze in the singles, the Chilean pair teamed up to win the doubles gold medal. The Chileans again trailed by two-sets-to-one in the final and again found a way back, eventually overcoming German duo Nicolas Kiefer and Rainer Schuettler 62 46 36 76(7) 64.

Next stop for the Olympic circus was Beijing, in 2008, and it was a case of Russian domination in the women’s singles event as Elena Dementieva, Dinara Safina and Vera Zvonareva sealed an impressive clean sweep of gold, silver and bronze. In the final, Dementieva outlasted her fellow countrywoman Safina 36 75 63 to claim what is undoubtedly her biggest achievement in the game, having never managed to win an elusive Grand Slam title.

In the men’s singles, Rafael Nadal added an Olympic gold medal to his ever expanding trophy cabinet. The Spaniard surprisingly lost a set against the lowly ranked Potito Starace in the first round, but it was the last one he would drop on his way to Olympic glory. He defeated Fernando Gonzalez, who went one better than his bronze in Athens, 63 76(2) 63 in the final. Serbia’s Novak Djokovic took bronze with victory over James Blake.

The women’s doubles gold medal went, for the second time in their career, to American sisters Venus and Serena Williams, while the men’s doubles will stick long in the memory for something that happened off the court. The Swiss pairing of Roger Federer and Stanislas Wawrinka won the gold medal after a four-set win over Sweden’s Simon Aspelin and Thomas Johansson, but it was Federer’s tears on the podium that captured the public’s imagination. Here was the most successful player in the history of the men's game crying through the sheer joy of winning for his country on the world’s biggest stage.

If Beijing was a success, then London 2012 took the Olympic Tennis Event to a new level. Played on the hallowed grass courts of The All England Lawn Tennis Club, home to the Wimbledon Championships, the world's best players gathered once more with Serena Williams and Andy Murray stealing the headlines by winning the singles gold medals, while they also enjoyed success on the doubles court.

Williams was completely dominant and swept aside all before her with consummate ease. The American lost just 17 games on her way to the title, including a comprehensive 60 61 victory over Russia’s Maria Sharapova in the final. Williams, fresh from winning her fifth Wimbledon title, dropped her serve just once during the tournament.

Serena also teamed up with her sister Venus to successfully defend the women’s doubles gold medal after defeating Czech Republic’s Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka 64 64. This milestone result saw the Americans become the only tennis players ever to win four gold medals, following their past Olympic successes at Sydney and Beijing.

Murray delighted the British fans by brushing aside Switzerland’s Roger Federer in straight sets to claim the men’s singles gold medal. Just four weeks after he lost to the same opponent in the Wimbledon final, the world No. 4 turned the tables to win 62 61 64 in 1 hour 56 minutes. It was an astonishing change of fortunes for Murray, who had so often played second fiddle to Federer, Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal in the preceeding years. The Scot became the first British tennis player to win a singles gold medal since Major Josiah Ritchie achieved the feat over a century before at London 1908.

Murray wasn’t finished there, either. Teaming up with teenager Laura Robson, the British duo came within a whisker of winning the mixed doubles event, eventually losing to No. 1 seeds Victoria Azarenka and Max Mirnyi 16 63 [10-8]. It was a historic moment for the Belarus pair who claimed their country’s first ever tennis gold medal. It was also a historic moment for the mixed doubles event, which was being contested as a full medal sport at the Olympics for the first time since Paris 1924.

The men’s doubles gold medal went to twin brothers Bob and Mike Bryan, who had long coveted the top Olympic prize. The Americans, seeded No. 1, overcame France’s Michael Llodra and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 64 76(2) to win the title, improving on their bronze medal finish at Beijing 2008.

Tennis is well and truly back in the Olympic family. And when one observes the joy and pride on the faces of those tennis players, like Federer, who have had the honour of carrying their country’s Olympic flag in the opening ceremony, it is clear that, even in a sport where the top players can do so well financially, the five rings really do mean something very special.

First written by the late John Parsons and updated by Chris Bowers and Chris Archer.

The Games of the XXXI Olympiad saw a string of captivating moments on the field of play against its arresting backdrop of mountains and beaches, but few sports at Rio 2016 saw excitement with such regularity as the tennis. The sport, just like its striking red-and-yellow coloured Centre Court that enjoyed a prominent position near the entrance to Barra Olympic Park, stood loud and proud in the carnival capital. 

The Olympic Tennis Event was littered with thrilling matches, stunning upsets and even relative home success, and highlighted by historic singles wins for both Andy Murray and Monica Puig. The latter’s triumph, in particular, read like a fairytale. 

Puig upset three Grand Slam champions - Garbine Muguruza, Petra Kvitova and Angelique Kerber – on her way to recording by far the biggest sporting achievement her country has ever seen. Indeed, the world No. 34 managed to clear the streets back in Puerto Rico, as a large majority of the 3.4 million population in her homeland crowded around televisions to watch the 22-year-old capture the nation’s first-ever Olympic gold medal.

The first woman from the North Caribbean island to win any kind of medal at a Games, Puig ended her incredible week by defeating Kerber, the season’s standout player, with yet another fearless display. She cracked 54 winners in a 64 46 61 final victory that was fuelled by the flag upon her chest, as much as anything else. 

Murray, too, hit new heights in country colours, even if his gold medal was rather more widely anticipated than Puig’s. Already the reigning Olympic champion, having defeated Roger Federer to win gold at London 2012, Murray finally felled Juan Martin del Potro 75 46 62 75 in an gruelling men’s final that lasted four hours and two minutes to become the first player in history to win two singles gold medals. 

Del Potro had blasted world No. 1 Novak Djokovic off the court in straight sets in the opening round, and it was only Murray’s sheer bloody-mindedness that prevented him from suffering a similar fate in a gripping gold medal match.

Rafael Nadal, for whom the Olympics also marked a return to form following a wrist injury that had kept him off the tour since May, also had a tournament to remember. 

The 2008 Beijing gold medallist had made it his mission to compete in Rio having missed the chance to defend his title at London 2012 with a knee injury, and took great pride in carrying the Spanish flag in to the Maracana Stadium at the Opening Ceremony, something he said “will stay in my mind for the rest of my life.” 

On court, Nadal’s efforts were rewarded with another gold medal, this time alongside compatriot Marc Lopez after the pair defeated Florin Mergea and Horia Tecau 62 36 64 in a high-quality men’s doubles final. 

Nadal came up just short of winning another medal in singles, falling to Kei Nishikori 62 67(1) 63 in the bronze medal play-off after the latter secured Japan’s first Olympic tennis medal in 96 years, and their third in history. It was an apt stage for Nishikori’s success, given that Brazil is home to the world’s largest Japanese population outside of his motherland. 

It was perhaps fitting that the women’s doubles final was won by Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina, given that the Russian duo had endured a nightmare journey to the Brazilian capital that nearly derailed their hopes of fulfilling a lifelong dream. Having been held up in Montreal where they had won the title the previous week, the pair made the most of being in Rio once finally there – beating Swiss pair Timea Bacsinszky and Martina Hingis to the gold medal. 

Americans Jack Sock and Bethanie Mattek-Sands edged Venus Williams and Rajeev Ram to gold in a tight mixed doubles final, while Sock doubled up with Steve Johnson to take bronze in the men’s doubles.

The power of the Olympics was perhaps most evident in the reaction of Radek Stepanek, who was close to tears after securing mixed doubles bronze alongside Lucie Hradecka to ensure five Czech players took tennis medals home from Rio.

The Tokyo 2020 Olympic Tennis Event was a Games like none before, but still offered athletes from across the world the chance to represent their nations and compete for Olympic glory.

Delayed by a year as a result of the global pandemic, the event - when it was finally staged in August 2021 - culminated in five exciting gold medal matches as the champions in all five tennis events won their first Olympic gold medals.

Belinda Bencic was the standout star, becoming the first Swiss woman to win a gold medal in tennis in Games history after a hard-earned three-set victory over Czech Republic’s Marketa Vondrousova, before partnering Viktorija Golubic to claim women's doubles silver.

Alexander Zverev became the first German player to win Olympic singles gold since Steffi Graf at Seoul 1988 after beating Karen Khachanov, but the men's event was particularly notable for the premature departure of Novak Djokovic. 

An Olympic campaign that promised so much for the then-reigning Australian Open, Roland Garros and Wimbledon champion ended, surprisingly, with back-to-back losses - against Zverev in the semi-finals and then against Pablo Carreno Busta in the bronze medal match. 

There were storylines left, right and centre at the tennis event in Tokyo, not least in the doubles competition. Katerina Siniakova and Barbora Krejcikova claimed women's doubles gold, while a dramatic bronze-medal play-off saw Laura Pigossi and Luisa Stefani save four match points in the match tie-break before finally defeating Veronika Kudermetova and Elena Vesnina.

If the match wasn't momentous enough - it was Brazil’s first-ever medal in tennis at the Olympics, and the pair were utterly overjoyed.

Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic won an all-Croatian men's doubles final over childhood friends Marin Cilic and Ivan Dodig, while Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Andrey Rublev won mixed doubles gold in a joyous curtain closer to the event.

In total, 45 nations and 190 players competed at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Tennis Event, with 208 matches played across a thrilling competition in Japan.