The
United States'
Andre Agassi defeated
Spain's
Sergi Bruguera in the final, 6–2, 6–3, 6–1 to win the gold medal in Men's Singles
tennis at the
1996 Summer Olympics
The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...
. The victory gave Agassi the fourth of five components of the
career Golden Slam
The Grand Slam in tennis is the achievement of winning all four major championships in one discipline in a calendar year, also referred to as the "Calendar-year Grand Slam" or "Calendar Slam". In doubles, a team may accomplish the Grand Slam p ...
; his later win at the
French Open
The French Open (french: Internationaux de France de tennis), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a major tennis tournament held over two weeks at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, beginning in late May each year. The tournament and ven ...
made him the first man to complete the career Golden Slam in singles. It was the United States' first gold medal in the event since
1924
Events
January
* January 12 – Gopinath Saha shoots Ernest Day, whom he has mistaken for Sir Charles Tegart, the police commissioner of Calcutta, and is arrested soon after.
* January 20– 30 – Kuomintang in China hol ...
and its third overall, equaling Great Britain's record. It was Spain's second consecutive silver medal. In the bronze medal match,
India's
Leander Paes defeated
Brazil's
Fernando Meligeni, 3–6, 6–2, 6–4. It was India's first Olympic tennis medal.
The tournament was held at the
Stone Mountain Tennis Center
The Stone Mountain Tennis Center was a tennis venue at Stone Mountain Park in Stone Mountain, Georgia, USA. It was built to host the tennis events for the 1996 Summer Olympics and the 1996 Summer Paralympics, at a total cost of $22 million. At th ...
in
Atlanta, Georgia, of the
United States of America. There were 64 competitors from 36 nations.
[ Nations had been limited to three players each since the return of tennis to the Olympic program in 1988.
]Switzerland
). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...
's Marc Rosset was the reigning gold medalist from 1992
File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...
, but he retired from his third round match against Renzo Furlan.
Background
This was the 10th (medal) appearance of the men's singles tennis event. 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. Demonstration events were held in 1968 and 1984.
The number one seed was Andre Agassi of the United States.
Competition format
The competition was a single-elimination tournament, but with some significant changes from 1988 and 1992. A bronze medal match was held, unlike the previous two Games. Matches before the final were reduced to best-of-three sets instead of best-of-five sets. The 12-point tie-breaker continued be used in any set, except the third (or the fifth in the final), that reached 6–6.
Schedule
All times are Eastern Daylight Time ( UTC-4)
Seeds
Draw
Finals
Top half
Section 1
Section 2
Bottom half
Section 3
Section 4
References
ITF Olympic Site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tennis at the 1996 Summer Olympics - Men's singles
Men's singles
Men's events at the 1996 Summer Olympics