The men's doubles was a

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

event held as part of the

Tennis at the 1920 Summer Olympics Final results for the Tennis competition at the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp, Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by ...

programme. It was the sixth appearance of the event. A total of 44 players (22 pairs) from 11 nations competed in the event, which was held from 16 to 24 August 1920 at the

Beerschot Tennis Club The Beerschot Tennis Club, now known as the Royal Beerschot Tennis and Hockey Club is a field hockey and tennis club founded in 1899 in Kontich, Belgium, located in neighboring Antwerp. It hosted the tennis events for the 1920 Summer Olympics. Hon ...

. Nations were limited to four pairs (eight players) each. The event was won by

Noel Turnbull Oswald Graham Noel Turnbull (20 December 1890 – 17 December 1970) was an English tennis player. He is best known for his gold medal in the men's doubles event (with Maxwell Woosnam) at the 1920 Antwerp Olympics. Before World War I Turnbu ...

and

Max Woosnam Max or MAX may refer to: Animals * Max (dog) (1983–2013), at one time purported to be the world's oldest living dog * Max (English Springer Spaniel), the first pet dog to win the PDSA Order of Merit (animal equivalent of OBE) * Max (gorilla) ...

of Great Britain, defeating

Seiichiro Kashio was a tennis player from Japan, and with Ichiya Kumagae was one of the first Japanese Olympic medalists. He won the Canadian Open by defeating United States player Walter K. Wesbrook 3–6, 6–3, 6–1, 11–9. Biography A native of Osaka, K ...

and

Ichiya Kumagae was a Japanese tennis player and the first Japanese Olympic medalist. Biography Kumagae was born on 10 September 1890 in Ōmuta, Fukuoka Prefecture. He attended Keio University. In 1913, he, along with other members of the Keio University Ten ...

of Japan in the final. It was Great Britain's third victory in the men's doubles, most of any nation. Japan's silver came in its debut in the event. France earned its second consecutive bronze medal as

Pierre Albarran Pierre Albarran (18 May 1893 – 24 February 1960) was a French auction and contract bridge player and theorist, and a tennis player. It has been reported that he was born in the West Indies, and also in Chaville, Hauts-de-Seine, France. He d ...

and

Max Decugis Maxime Omer Mathieu Decugis or Décugis (; 24 September 1882 – 6 September 1978) was a tennis player from France who held the French Open, French Championships record of winning the tournament eight times (a French club members only tournament ...

had a walkover in what would have been an all-France bronze-medal match.

Background

This was the sixth appearance of men's doubles tennis. The event has been held at every Summer Olympics where tennis has been on the program: from 1896 to 1924 and then from 1988 to the current program. A demonstration event was held in 1968. As in previous Games, the field for this event was relatively weak and without top competitors. The Olympic tennis tournament was no longer scheduled adjacent to or concurrent with Wimbledon, as it had been in 1908 and 1912; however, it was at the same time as the U.S. Championship this year.

Bill Tilden William Tatem Tilden II (February 10, 1893 – June 5, 1953), nicknamed "Big Bill", was an American tennis player. Tilden was the world No. 1 amateur for six consecutive years, from 1920 to 1925, and was ranked as the world No. 1 professional b ...

and

Bill Johnston Bill or Billy Johnston may refer to: * Bill Johnston (cricketer) (1922–2007), Australian cricketer * Bill Johnston (golfer) (1925–2021), American golfer and golf course architect * Bill Johnston (tennis) William Marquitz "Little Bill" John ...

, and all the other American players, thus did not enter. Belgium, Italy, Japan, Spain, and Switzerland each made their debut in the event. Great Britain made its fourth appearance in the event, tying the absent Germany for most among nations.

Competition format

The competition was a single-elimination tournament with a bronze-medal match. All matches were best-of-five sets. Tiebreaks had not been invented yet.

Schedule

Draw

Finals

Top half

Bottom half

References

Sources

* *
ITF, 2008 Olympic Tennis Event Media Guide

1920 Events January * January 1 ** Polish–Soviet War in 1920: The Russian Red Army increases its troops along the Polish border from 4 divisions to 20. ** Kauniainen, completely surrounded by the city of Espoo, secedes from Espoo as its own ma ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tennis at the 1920 Summer Olympics - Men's doubles Men's doubles Men's events at the 1920 Summer Olympics