What Were The Weakest And Strongest Player Fields In Olympic Tennis History?

By Randy Walker

@TennisPublisher

One of the early storylines at the delayed 2020 Olympic Games played in 2021 are the high profile withdrawals from the tennis competition. Some withdrawals were due to injury, due to concern over COVID-19 protocols or a positive COVID test, or for other personal reasons.

Five of the top 10 men are missing from Tokyo (No. 3 Rafael Nadal, No. 6 Dominic Thiem, No. 8 Matteo Berrettini, No. 9 Roger Federer and No. 10 Denis Shapovalov) and five more in the top 20 for a total of 10 missing from the top 20. (Also missing No. 14 Casper Ruud, No. 16 Roberto Bautista Agut, No. 17 Alex de Minaur, No. 19 Cristin Garin, No. 20 David Goffin)

Three of the top 10 women are missing from Tokyo (No. 4 Sofia Kenin, No. 5 Bianca Andreescu and No. 10 Simona Halep) while a total of five of the top 20 are not playing, adding in No. 14 Vika Azarenka and No. 16 Serena Williams.

However, despite the media attention on the withdrawals, these Games are not the weakest since tennis returned to the Olympic Games in 1988 after a 64-year absence.

In men’s tennis, the weakest Olympic fields came in 1988 and in 1996

In 1988, the men’s singles field only featured two top 10 players – No. 3-ranked Stefan Edberg and No. 10 Tim Mayotte. Missing from the event were world No. 1 Mats Wilander, No. 2 Ivan Lendl, No. 4 Andre Agassi, No. 5 Boris Becker, No. 6 Kent Carlsson, No. 7 Pat Cash, No. 8 Yannick Noah and No. 9 Jimmy Connors. Mayotte, the second-highest ranked entrant, went on to win the silver medal, losing to No. 12 Miloslav Mecir in the gold medal match. Edberg shared bronze with No. 17 Brad Gilbert.

In 1996, the men’s singles field featured only three of the top 10 – No. 6 Andre Agassi as the No. 1 seed and eventual gold medalist, No. 7 Goran Ivanisevic and No. 10 Thomas Enqvist. Missing from the Atlanta Games were No. 1 Pete Sampras, No. 2 Thomas Muster, No. 3 Michael Chang, No. 4 Yevgeny Kafelnikov, No. 5 Boris Becker, No. 8 Richard Krajicek and No. 9 Jim Courier did not participate. Only nine of the world’s top 20 ranked men played in Atlanta.

In women’s tennis, the weakest Olympic fields came in 2004 in Athens when only five of the top 10 ranked women participated. Lindsay Davenport, the world No. 4, did not play in Athens along with No. 5 Kim Clijsters, No. 7 Jennifer Capriati, No. 8 Maria Sharapova and No. 9 Vera Zvonareva. Adding the absence of No. 11 Serena Williams and the No. 19 Elena Bovina and a total of seven of the top 20 women were absent from the 2004 Games.

It is interesting to note that actually fewer top 20 women played in the Sydney Olympics in 2000 when only 10 of the top 20 played, however, four of the top 20 players, Chanda Rubin at No. 16, Jennifer Capriati at No. 18 and Amy Frazier at No. 19, could not play because the U.S. team was already filled with top 10 stars Venus Williams, Monica Seles and Lindsay Davenport and No. 8 ranked Serena Williams only qualified in doubles.

A look at the missing top players from fields from the previous Olympics can be found below.

MEN

1988 Olympics

2 of top 10 men played (Missing: No. 1 Mats Wilander, No. 2 Ivan Lendl, No. 4 Andre Agassi, No. 5 Boris Becker, No. 6 Kent Carlsson, No. 7 Pat Cash, No. 8 Yannick Noah, No. 9 Jimmy Connors)

7 of top 20 in the field (Also Missing: No. 13 Thomas Muster, No. 14 Guillermo Perez-Roldan, No. 15 Aaron Krickstein, No. 18 Jonas B. Svensson, No. 20 Andres Gomez)

1992 Olympics

8 of top 10 played (Missing: No. 7 Petr Korda, No. 8 Andre Agassi)

11 of top 20 men played (Also missing were Americans who could not crack the line-up, such as No. 12 Ivan Lendl, No. 14 Aaron Krickstein, No. 16 Brad Gilbert, No. 17 Mal Washington, No. 18 John McEnroe as well as No. 11 Carlos Costa and No. 15 Richard Krajicek)

1996 Olympics

3 of top 10 played (Missing: No. 1 Pete Sampras, No. 2 Thomas Muster, No. 3 Michael Chang, No. 4 Yevgeny Kafelnikov, No. 5 Boris Becker, No. 8 Richard Krajicek, No. 9 Jim Courier)

9 of top 20 in the field (Also Missing: No. 12 Marcelo Rios, No. 14 Michael Stich, No. 18 Cedric Pioline, No. 16 Todd Martin

2000 Olympics

7 out of 10 played (Missing: No. 1 Pete Sampras, No. 5 Andre Agassi, No. 6 Thomas Enqvist)

14 out of 20 in the field (Also Missing: No. 14 Cedric Pioline, No. 16 Nico Lapentti, No. 18 Mariano Puerta)

2004 Olympics

5 out of 10 played (Missing: No. 3 Guillermo Coria, No. 7 Andre Agassi, No. 8 Lleyton Hewitt, No. 9 David Nalbandian, No. 10 Gaston Gaudio)

15 of top 20 (All players ranked No. 11 to No. 20 played in the tournament)

2008 Olympics

9 out of top 10 played (Missing: No. 9 Andy Roddick)

15 out of top 20 played (Also Missing: No. 11 Richard Gasquet, No. 12 Fernando Verdasco, No. 16 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, No. 17 Ivo Karlovic)

2012 Olympics

9 out of top 10 played (Missing: No. 3 Rafael Nadal)

15 out of top 20 played (Also Missing: No. 13 Mardy Fish, No. 17 Alex Dolgoplov, No. 19 Marcel Granollers (played doubles only) No. 20 Gael Monfils)

2016 Olympics

5 of the top 10 played (Missing: No. 3 Roger Federer, No. 4 Stan Wawrinka, No. 6 Milos Raonic, No. 8 Tomas Berdych, No. 9 Dominic Thiem)

11 of top 20 played (Also Missing: No. 15 Richard Gasquet, No. 16 Nick Kyrgios, No. 18 Feliciano Lopez, No. 20 Ivo Karlovic)

2020 Olympics

5 of top 10 (Missing No. 3 Nadal, No. 6 Thiem, No. 8 Berrettini, No. 9 Federer, No. 10 Shapovalov)

10 of top 20 (Also Missing: No. 14 Casper Ruud, No. 16 Bautista Agut, No. 17 Alex de Minaur, No. 19 Cristian Garin, No. 20 David Goffin)

WOMEN

1988 Olympics

8 of top 10 played (Missing: No. 2 Martina Navratilova and No. 10 Lori McNeil)

14 of top 20 played (Also Missing: No. 11 Barbara Potter, No. 14 Hana Mandlikova, No. 15 Mary Joe Fernandez, No. 16 Stephanie Rehe)

Martina Navratilova chose not play in the Olympics, but had been representing the United States in Fed Cup and had been an American citizen since 1981. Lori McNeil, ranked No. 10, could not crack the U.S. team line-up since Chris Evert, Zina Garrison and Pam Shriver were ranked ahead of her, as well as No. 11 Barbara Potter, No. 15 Mary Joe Fernandez and No. 16 Stephanie Rehe)

1992 Olympics

7 of the top 10 played (Missing: No. 1 Monica Seles, No. 3 Gabriela Sabatini, No. 4 Martina Navratilova)

16 of top 20 played (Also Missing: No. 17 Amy Frazier)

1996 Olympics

8 out of top 10 played (Missing: co-No. 1 Steffi Graf, No. 7 Chanda Rubin)

14 out of top 20 played (Also Missing: No. 15 Barbara Paulus, No. 18 Meredith McGrath, No. 19 Irina Spirlea, No. 20 Julie Halard)

2000 Olympics

6 out of top 10 played (Missing: No. 1 Martina Hingis, No. 4 Mary Pierce, No. 7 Nathalie Tauziat, No. 8 Serena Williams (doubles only!)

10 out of 20 played (Also Missing: No. 11 Sandrine Testud, No. 13 Anna Kournikova, No. 16 Chanda Rubin, No. 18 Jennifer Capriati, No. 19 Amy Frazier, No. 20 Julie Halard)

2004 Olympics

5 out of top 10 played (Missing No. 4 Lindsay Davenport, No. 5 Kim Clijsters, No. 7 Jennifer Capriati, No. 8 Maria Sharapova, No. 9 Vera Zvonareva)

13 out of top 20 played (Also Missing: No. 11 Serena Williams, No. 19 Elena Bovina)

2008 Olympics

7 out of top 10 played (Missing: No. 1 Ana Ivanovic, No. 4 Sharapova, No. 10 Anna Chakvetadze)

15 of top 20 played (Also Missing: No. 13 Marion Bartoli, No. 17 Nadia Petrova)

2012 Olympics

9 out of the top 10 played (Missing: No. 10 Marion Bartoli)

17 out top 20 played (Also Missing: No. 16 Kaia Kanepi, No. 18 Andrea Petkovic)

2016 Olympics

8 of the top 10 played (Missing: No. 4 Simona Halep, No. 7 Vika Azarenka)

16 out of top 20 played (Also Missing: No. 11 Dominika Cibulkova, No. 17 Karolina Pliskova)