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TENNIS AT THE OLYMPICS: AS PRESTIGIOUS AS A GRAND SLAM?



Another Olympic tennis campaign wrapped up overnight, culminating in Novak Djokovic’s epic three-hour win over a valiant Carlos Alcaraz to complete his career Golden Slam.


There were some terrific stories along the way, including Zheng Qinwen winning China’s first-ever gold medal in tennis, and of course, Matty Ebden and Johns Peers winning gold for Australia in the men’s doubles for the first time since the Woodies in 1996.


So with the dust settled after a terrific tournament, where does an Olympic gold medal stack up in the grand scheme of things? Does it have the same prestige as a Grand Slam title?


It’s a hotly debated topic amongst tennis fans and pundits alike. To properly answer this question, however, we need to look back to where it all began.


Introduced at the inaugural 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens, tennis then went into a 64-year hiatus, with notable appearances as a demonstration sport at the 1968 and 1984 Games.


Returning to Seoul in 1988, tennis is now a full medal sport, open for all players and has been played at every Summer Games since.


Tennis as an Olympic sport hasn’t always been widely accepted or popular.


Esteemed writer-broadcaster, Bud Collins once contended that “tennis didn’t need the Olympics and the Olympics didn’t need tennis.”


Even the great Rod Laver had his reservations, telling Tennis magazine in 2004, “I just think tennis doesn’t lend itself to being an Olympic sport. To me, the Olympics is track and field.”


There is even conjecture that winning an Olympic gold medal is only relevant in tennis when it helps a player complete a Golden Slam. 


Few players have won an Olympic gold medal and fewer still have won a golden slam (all four Grand Slams plus an Olympic gold medal).


In fact, only 13 players have achieved the career Golden Slam, taking into account singles and doubles.



When you take out the doubles players, however, only five players have achieved the Golden Slam, with Novak Djokovic’s gold in Paris adding him to this prestigious list:


  • Steffi Graf

  • Andre Agassi

  • Rafael Nadal

  • Serena Williams

  • Novak Djokovic


However, the argument for tennis as an Olympic sport has strengthened over the years.


Seven-time time Grand Slam champion and commentator extraordinaire, John McEnroe, for one, seems to think so, recalling another famous American player’s success in Atlanta.


“When Andre Agassi won the gold medal in 1996 and stood oh so proud with that USA on his back, other players started thinking, ‘Maybe it’s a good thing if we play this, maybe pros in the Olympics makes sense.’ In the beginning more than 50 percent of the top [men] players didn’t play. After Andre won it, more and more of the top players played each subsequent Olympics.”


The fields have grown steadily stronger since 1988 and now equal those at Grand Slam events. Indeed, the 2008 Beijing Olympics featured the strongest singles line-up in Olympics history, with 17 of the top 20 men, and 18 of the top 20 women competing.


While only 13 of the top 20 men and 11 of the top 20 women entered the Paris games this year, several top players are out with injuries including world number 1, Jannik Sinner and our own Alex de Minaur.


Many of the past greats have spoken openly about how much they treasure their gold medals.


Doubles legends, the Bryan brothers, described their Olympic gold medal in 2012 as the biggest win of their respective careers, Andy Murray called it the pinnacle of sport and Serena Williams has said her Sydney Olympics doubles gold medal with sister Venus is the favourite thing she has.



So what do the current crop of players think?


Well, one player’s desire to win a gold medal has always spoken for itself: Novak Djokovic.


While he won a bronze medal in 2008, his shock opening round loss in 2016 to Juan Martin Del Potro caused the Serb to leave the court in tears. After the match, he described the loss as one of the toughest losses in his life and career, up to that point.


Indeed, an Olympic gold medal was the only tennis title Djokovic was missing on his already glittering resume, in which he has achieved everything else the sport has to offer.


Speaking ahead of the Paris Olympics, the 37-year-old Serbian explicitly stated his desire to win a gold medal.


"[It's so special to be] part of the oldest sports event in the history of sport," Djokovic told the International Tennis Federation in May. "Of course winning a gold medal or winning any medal for my country is a great wish and desire.



Of course, the motivation for Novak was easy because a gold medal was the last thing left to achieve in his career. Now he has achieved this jaw-dropping feat, Djokovic, for all intents and purposes, has nothing left to prove.


On his ‘Served’ podcast, Andy Roddick recently speculated that there is not a ‘one size fits all’ argument for competing at the Olympics. Some players will prioritise it, while others won’t.


Players like Andrey Rublev, Ben Shelton and Frances Tiafoe all bypassed the Olympics to compete at the Citi Open in preparation for the U.S. Open. 


The surface could be a factor, with the Olympics being played on clay, while the U.S. Open, commencing in just under three weeks, is on hard court.


For some, there could be a calendar clash, with the Olympics falling smack bang in between Wimbledon and the U.S. Open, with little time to prepare between each.


While playing for your country is enough of a motivation for some players, for others, the individual pursuit of a grand slam holds more reverence.



As for whether the Olympics has as much prestige as the four majors, the answer is simply, it depends on the player.


What is abundantly clear, however, is that those who are lucky enough to have won a gold medal always cherish it as much as a Grand Slam.


Perhaps Andre Agassi, one of the five players who has won the 'Golden Slam' summed it up the best.


“To win a Grand Slam [title] is the greatest thing in the sport, but to win an Olympics is the biggest thing you can do in all sports.”


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