As tennis at Rio 2016 gets underway, here’s a look at some players who have excelled at the biggest sporting tournament in addition to their many laurels on the tennis court – with some of them playing at Rio 2016!
Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde : The Woodies
Known collectively as the Woodies, Australians Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde were one of the most successful pairs in the history of the game. Together, the two won eleven Grand Slam titles and were also successful at the Davis Cup.
The pair also successfully represented Australia at the Olympics.
The Woodies won the men’s doubles gold medal at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, Georgia, beating out former British No. 1 Tim Henman and partner Neil Broad. The following Games, their home Olympics in Sydney, Australia, the pair took silver, with Daniel Nestor and and Sebastien Lareau of Canada winning gold that year.
The two still play a few exhibition matches, having retired from professional tennis, but with one gold and a silver in addition to numerous other titles, Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde are among the most successful tennis Olympians in history.
Steffi Graf
Long considered one of the greatest players of all time in the women’s game, German legend Steffi Graf has 22 Grand Slam titles to her name – an all-time high record that was only recently equalled by Serena Williams, who won the title at Wimbledon 2016.
Graf is the only women’s player to have completed the Golden Slam and the only player, male or female, to have a golden calendar slam, winning the Olympic title and all four of the year’s Grand Slams in the same year, 1988.
She also made the finals at the succeeding Olympics in 1992 in Barcelona, Spain, losing to Jennifer Capriati.
Venus and Serena Williams
Venus is among the best tennis players in the game, with Serena universally considered the Greatest of All Time in women’s tennis. With her win at Wimbledon this year, the younger Williams sister equalled Steffi Graf’s all-time record of 22 Grand Slam titles, and in current form could well break that record at the US Open.
34-year-old Serena and older sister Venus have had success both individually and together, winning singles and doubles titles.
The sisters have one singles gold medal each: Venus won top honours at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia, beating Russia’s Elena Dementieva to the title, while Serena is the defending Olympic champion, also beating a Russian opponent – Maria Sharapova – to gold.
The pair have won every doubles final they have played together – taking gold at the Sydney Olympics in 2000, at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, and at the 2012 London Olympics, making them the defending women’s doubles champions.
Unfortunately, a straight sets loss to Lucie Safarova and Barbora Strycova of the Czech Republic left the Williams sisters unable to defend their title.
Venus’ singles jaunt also ended, with a loss to Belgium’s Kirsten Flipkens in the first round.
Defending champion Serena is going strong in the tournament, beating France’s Alize Cornet in straight sets to progress to the third round of the tournament. Given she is fresh off breaking a record – and winning a Grand Slam, after having made the final of every Grand Slam so far this year, Williams looks to be the favourite to win gold in 2016.
Roger Federer
The GOAT outside of the Olympics, 17-time singles Grand Slam winner Roger Federer has had success on every surface – and at the Olympic Games. Although he is a singles champion, Federer’s Olympic gold came in the doubles in 2008, with the Swiss taking top honours with teammate and compatriot Stan Wawrinka.
The pair defeated Swede Thomas Johansson and Simon Aspelin to take the top prize at the Beijing Olympics although he missed out on a medal in the singles.
The following Olympic Games – at London 2012, Federer pulled off a series of stunning singles performances on the back of his Wimbledon victory that year, including a robust win against Argentine Juan Martin del Potro.
Federer would go on to finish in second behind home hope and gold medal winner Andy Murray, the defending men’s singles champion.
Murray, one of the frontrunners for the Olympic title this year, has now become the firm favourite after the first-round exit of Novak Djokovic. The Scot has been in the form of his life, and recently won his second Wimbledon title with a win over Canadian Milos Raonic. With his form and momentum, he could well win the 2016 Olympic Games, giving him three Olympic medals – he won silver at the mixed doubles with compatriot Laura Robson in 2012.
Struggling with injury, Federer announced last month that he would not be playing the Olympic Games, choosing to take a breather from professional tennis until 2017. Given that he is 34 and has been struggling more and more with injuries in recent years, it would appear that Federer missed out on an opportunity to play his final Olympic games.
Nevertheless, his success across disciplines makes him one of the greatest tennis Olympians of all time.
Kathleen McKane Godfree
Not a widely-known name, Briton Kathleen McKane Godfree participated in two Olympic Games – in 1920 and 1924, winning over that time one gold, two silver and two bronze medals at the Games.
Her biggest success came at the 1920 Olympic Games in Antwerp, Belgium where she won gold in the women's doubles, silver in the mixed doubles, and bronze in the women’s singles.
She would go on to win silver in the women’s doubles and bronze in the singles at the 1924 Olympics in Paris, giving her a total of five Olympic medals, which no tennis player has been able to equal so far. It is possible, however, given Serena Williams’ success that she could equal this record too.
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