The Olympic Tennis Centre ( pt, Centro Olímpico de Tênis) is a tennis venue located in the

Barra Olympic Park The Barra Olympic Park (Brazilian Portuguese: ''Parque Olímpico da Barra''), originally the City of Sports Complex, is a cluster of nine sporting venues in Barra da Tijuca, in the west zone of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The park, which served as th ...

Barra da Tijuca Barra da Tijuca () (usually known as Barra) is an upper-class neighborhood or bairro in the Rio de Janeiro#West Zone, West Zone of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, located in the western portion of the city on the Atlantic Ocean. Barra is well known for it ...

in the West Zone of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The centre hosted

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 ...

events of the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics ( pt, Jogos Olímpicos de Verão de 2016), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad ( pt, Jogos da XXXI Olimpíada) and also known as Rio 2016, was an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 20 ...

, and the

wheelchair tennis Wheelchair tennis is one of the forms of tennis adapted for wheelchair users. The size of the court, net height and rackets are the same, but there are two major differences from pedestrian tennis: athletes use specially designed wheelchairs, ...

events of the 2016 Summer Paralympics. The centre was built on the site of the former

Nelson Piquet International Autodrome Nelson may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Nelson'' (1918 film), a historical film directed by Maurice Elvey * ''Nelson'' (1926 film), a historical film directed by Walter Summers * ''Nelson'' (opera), an opera by Lennox Berkeley to a lib ...

History

Construction

Olympic Tennis Center-Centro Olímpico da Barra

The centre was designed by architect

Gerkan, Marg and Partners Gerkan, Marg & Partners (gmp) is an international architectural company based in Hamburg, Germany. The company was founded in 1965 by Meinhard von Gerkan and , and now has more than 300 employees in 13 offices. In the same year the archit ...

, along with

Schlaich Bergermann Partner Schlaich bergermann partner is a nationally and internationally active structural engineering and consulting firm with headquarters in Stuttgart, Germany and branch offices in Berlin, New York City, São Paulo, Shanghai and Paris. History The f ...

. The centre consists of a tennis stadium and 15 ancillary courts. The center court has a capacity of 10,000, with the two temporary arenas with a capacity of 5,000 and 3,000 respectively. The surface will be hard court, supplied by

GreenSet GreenSet is a brand of acrylic hardcourt surface used in many professional tennis events run by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and on the ATP and WTA tours. It is made of layers of acrylic resin and silica on top of an asphalt or conc ...

Construction started in 2013 and was completed in 2016. However, the stadium faced numerous hurdles during construction. The biggest of these was when the city of Rio de Janeiro canceled the construction contract 200 days before the start of the games and finned the consortium responsible for delays 11 million reais ($2.7 million).

Opening

In December 2015, the centre court was named after Maria Esther Bueno, a former Brazilian tennis player, who became the first woman ever to win all four

Grand Slam Grand Slam most often refers to: * Grand Slam (tennis), one player or pair winning all four major annual tournaments, or the tournaments themselves Grand Slam or Grand slam may also refer to: Games and sports * Grand slam, winning category te ...

doubles titles in one year. This also marked the first ever event to be held at the

, which saw 75 Brazilian tennis players take part in a competition.

Legacy

In July 2021, it was announced that the centre would be auctioned to the private initiative. However, as of February 2022, it is still managed by the federal government, through the Ministry of Citizenship. The

International Tennis Federation The International Tennis Federation (ITF) is the governing body of world tennis, wheelchair tennis, and beach tennis. It was founded in 1913 as the International Lawn Tennis Federation by twelve national tennis associations. As of 2016, there a ...

(ITF) has confirmed that, 20 years after the last

Davis Cup The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is run by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and is contested annually between teams from competing countries in a knock-out format. It is described by the organis ...

match played in Rio de Janeiro, the Olympics Tennis Centre is set to host

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

's match against

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

in the 2022 Davis Cup qualifying round. It also played host to the Rio Tennis Classic ATP Challenger Tour event in December 2021.

References

External links