Tennis was an original Olympic sport and even included women’s tennis as early as 1900, however in 1924 it was dropped. That absence would last over 60 years as it didn’t return until 1988. It has remained every since and will add mixed doubles this year. The US has dominated tennis and has won 32 medals and 17 gold medals. 10 of those gold medals have come since 1988, 42% of the golds in this era. While that all is true, the US has only won one gold medal since Sydney, a women’s doubles gold for Serena and Venus Williams in Beijing. The world has definitely caught the US in tennis.
The Team:
This year’s team is made up of twelve athletes, six men and six women. Five of the athletes return from Beijing, five of the athletes were on the team in Athens, and two of them were on the team in Sydney.
Links are to twitter accounts for the athletes.
USA Tennis
Men:
Ryan Harrison – Singles
John Isner – Singles and Doubles
Andy Roddick& – Singles and Doubles
Donald Young – Singles
Bob Bryan** – Doubles
Mike Bryan** – Doubles
Women:
Varvara Lepchenko – Singles
Christina McHale – Singles
Serena Williams^ – Singles and Doubles
Venus Williams*** – Singles and Doubles
Liezel Huber* – Doubles
Lisa Raymond& – Doubles
* – Was on team in Beijing
& – Was on team in Athens
** – Was on team in Beijing and Athens
^ – Was on team in Beijing and Sydney
*** – Was on team in Beijing, Athens, and Sydney
Schedule:
First of all you might have noticed that there was no Americans listed as mixed doubles. This is not because the Americans won’t be competing in mixed doubles, just because the teams won’t be announced until at the Olympics. Mike Bryan and Lisa Raymond won the mixed doubles competition at Wimbledon, so I would imagine they are a good bet to be the US team.
Singles competitions will be a six-round tournament (64 competitors), doubles is a five-round tournament (32 competitors) and mixed doubles is a four-round tournament (16 competitors). The matches are best-of-three sets, the finals for men’s singles and doubles is best-of-five sets. There are no tiebreakers in the final sets of matches.
All Times ET
Saturday July 28th
6:30 AM – Tennis – Men’s Singles – Round of 64, Women’s Singles – Round of 64, Men’s Doubles – Round of 32, Women’s Doubles – Round of 32
Sunday July 29th
6:30 AM – Tennis – Men’s Singles – Round of 64, Women’s Singles – Round of 64, Men’s Doubles – Round of 32, Women’s Doubles – Round of 32
Monday July 30th
6:30 AM – Tennis – Men’s Singles – Round of 32, Women’s Singles – Round of 32, Men’s Doubles – Round of 16, Women’s Doubles – Round of 16
Tuesday July 31st
6:30 AM – Tennis – Men’s Singles – Round of 32, Women’s Singles – Round of 32, Men’s Doubles – Quarterfinals, Women’s Doubles – Quarterfinals
Wednesday August 1st
6:30 AM – Tennis – Men’s Singles – Round of 16, Women’s Singles – Round of 16, Mixed Doubles – Round of 16
Thursday August 2nd
6:30 AM – Tennis – Men’s Singles – Quarterfinals, Women’s Singles – Quarterfinals, Men’s Doubles – Semifinals, Women’s Doubles – Semifinals, Mixed Doubles – Quarterfinals
Friday August 3rd
6:30 AM – Tennis – Men’s Singles – Semifinals, Women’s Singles – Semifinals, Mixed Doubles – Semifinals
Saturday August 4th
6:30 AM – Tennis – Women’s Singles – Medal Round, Men’s Doubles – Medal Round, Mixed Doubles – Bronze Final
Sunday August 5th
6:30 AM – Tennis – Women’s Doubles – Medal Round, Men’s Singles – Medal Round, Mixed Doubles – Final
Past Results:
The US has some competitors with rich Olympic history, and some that will be looking to create some for the first time. On the men’s side Andy Roddick is the only returning singles player, having played in Athens. Roddick advanced to the Round of 16 in Athens, but has struggled to compete at the highest level since then. John Isner is the American who is ranked highest in the world, but having only advanced to one quarterfinal at a major, it’d be a surprised to see him threaten for a medal in London.
The doubles team of Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan have played at the highest level for years and won titles at each of the majors. They won the bronze in Beijing after losing to Roger Federer’s doubles team and lost in the quarterfinals in Athens. They are helped by the fact that since they both are Americans, they can play with their usual partner.
On the women’s side Venus and Serena are the returning singles players, with Serena the one currently playing at a top level. Venus has been recovering from an injury and is less likely to advance in London. Both Venus and Serena lost in the quarterfinals in Beijing, but Venus has a longer history having made the round of 16 in Athens and winning gold in Sydney. Serena missed the Athens Olympics with an injury, but when the sisters played together in Beijing and Sydney they won the women’s doubles gold. They’ve only lost three sets in their ten Olympic matches.
They will see a challenge from their American counterparts of Liezel Huber and Lisa Raymond. Both Huber and Raymond have been to one Olympics and made it to the quarterfinals of the women’s doubles competition. Raymond did it in 2004, Huber in 2008. Huber and Raymond have reached the 1st place ranking in the WTA double’s standings, but lost to Venus and Serena in the semifinals at Wimbledon earlier this month. That matchup could happen again in the Olympics for a gold medal if they are drawn on opposite sides of the draw.
It looks like the US is a good bet to medal at the Olympics, potentially even winning more than two in doubles and Serena looks like a favorite in singles. After winning just two medals in Beijing and one in Athens the US looks ready to reach Sydney and Atlanta (three medals) levels or maybe even the four they won in Seoul. Mixed doubles is a real mystery without any teams at this point, but if the US could medal in that they may even win five medals for the first time since mixed doubles was last included in 1924.
