West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

Steffi Graf Stefanie Maria Graf ( , ; born 14 June 1969) is a German former professional tennis player. She was ranked as the List of WTA number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for a r ...

defeated

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

Gabriela Sabatini Gabriela Beatriz Sabatini (; born 16 May 1970) is an Argentine former professional tennis player. A former world No. 3 in both singles and doubles, Sabatini was one of the leading players from the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s, amassing 41 titles a ...

in the final, 6–3, 6–3 to win the gold medal in Women's Singles

tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

at the

1988 Summer Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and officially branded as Seoul 1988 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October 1988 in Seoul, South Korea. 159 nations were represe ...

. With the win, Graf completed the Golden Slam, having also won all four majors earlier in 1988. The final was a rematch of the U.S. Open final earlier that year, where Graf also prevailed to complete the

Grand Slam Grand Slam or Grand slam may refer to: Games and sports * Grand slam, winning category terminology originating in contract bridge and other whist card games Athletics * Grand Slam Track, professional track and field league Auto racing * ...

. The

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

Zina Garrison Zina Lynna Garrison (born November 16, 1963) is an American former professional tennis player. Garrison was the runner-up in singles at the 1990 Wimbledon Championships, a three-time major mixed doubles champion, and an Olympic gold and bronze ...

and

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

Manuela Maleeva-Fragnière Manuela Georgieva Maleeva (; born 14 February 1967) is a Bulgarian former professional tennis player. She played on the WTA Tour between 1982 and 1994. Through her marriage, Maleeva began representing Switzerland officially from January 1990 ...

won the bronze medals. It was the first medal in the event for West Germany, Argentina, and Bulgaria (each making their debut in the event), while the United States had previously earned medals in both of its prior appearances in 1900 and 1924. The tournament was held from 23 September to 1 October at the

Seoul Olympic Park Tennis Center Seoul Olympic Park Tennis Center is a tennis venue in Seoul, South Korea, located in the Olympic Park, Seoul, Olympic Park. It hosted the Tennis at the 1988 Summer Olympics, tennis events for the 1988 Summer Olympics and has hosted several South ...

. There were 48 competitors from 26 nations. Each nation had only one pair. There was no bronze-medal match.

Background

This was the sixth appearance of the women's singles tennis. A women's event was held only once during the first three Games (only men's tennis was played in 1896 and 1904), but has been held at every Olympics for which there was a tennis tournament since 1908. Tennis was not a medal sport from 1928 to 1984, though there were demonstration events in 1968 and 1984. West Germany's

had just become the fifth person to win the

and was also the unofficial defending Olympic champion, having won the 1984 demonstration event (the official reigning gold medalist from

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–January 30, 30 – Kuomintang in Ch ...

Helen Wills Helen Newington Wills (October 6, 1905 – January 1, 1998), also known by her married names Helen Wills Moody and Helen Wills Roark, was an American tennis player. She won 31 Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam tournament titles (singles, doubles, ...

, had retired from tennis 50 years earlier). Of the 26 competing nations, 18 made their debut in the event. France and Great Britain each made their fifth appearance, tied for most among nations to that point.

Competition format

The competition was a single-elimination tournament. Unlike previous Olympic tournaments, no bronze-medal match was held. All matches were best-of-three sets. The 12-point tie-breaker, common by 1988, was used in the Olympics for the first time.

Schedule

All times are Korea Standard Time adjusted for daylight savings (

UTC+10 UTC+10:00 is an identifier for a UTC offset, time offset from UTC of +10:00. This time is used in: As standard time (year-round) Principal cities: Vladivostok, Khabarovsk, Saipan, Dededo, Port Moresby, Brisbane, Gold Coast, Queensland, Gold C ...

)

Seeds

All

seeds In botany, a seed is a plant structure containing an embryo and stored nutrients in a protective coat called a ''testa''. More generally, the term "seed" means anything that can be sown, which may include seed and husk or tuber. Seeds are the ...

received a bye to the second round.

Draw

Finals

Top half

Section 1

Section 2

Bottom half

Section 3

Section 4

References

ITF 1988 Summer Olympics Women's Draws
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tennis at the 1988 Summer Olympics - Women's Singles Women's Singles 1988 in women's tennis Women's events at the 1988 Summer Olympics