Tennis At The 2004 Summer Olympics – Men's Singles
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Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...
's Nicolás Massú defeated 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 ...
' Mardy Fish in the final, 6–3, 3–6, 2–6, 6–3, 6–4 to win the gold medal in Men'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
2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad (), and officially branded as Athens 2004 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 13 to 29 August 2004 in Athens, Greece. The Games saw 10,625 athletes ...
. In the bronze-medal match, Chile's
Fernando González Fernando Francisco González Ciuffardi (; born 29 July 1980) is a Chilean former professional tennis player. During his career, he reached at least the quarterfinals of all four Grand Slam (tennis)#Tournaments, major tournaments. He contested hi ...
defeated the United States' Taylor Dent, 6–4, 2–6, 16–14. Massú became the only man to win both the singles and men's doubles gold medals at the same Olympic Games. The two medals were Chile's first in men's singles, and Massú's gold plus the Chileans' doubles gold were the only two gold medals for Chile at the Olympics, until shooter Francisca Crovetto's gold obtained at the
2024 Summer Olympics The 2024 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad () and branded as Paris 2024, were an international multi-sport event held in France from 26 July to 11 August 2024, with several events started from 24 July. P ...
. The tournament was held at the Olympic Tennis Centre in
Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...
,
Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...
. There were 64 players from 32 nations. The limit on players per nation had been four since the 2000 Games. Only the final match was best-of-five-sets; all others were best-of-three-sets.
Yevgeny Kafelnikov Yevgeny Aleksandrovich Kafelnikov ( rus, Евгений Александрович Кафельников, , jɪvˈɡʲenʲɪj ˈkafʲɪlʲnʲɪkəf, a=Ru-Yevgeny-Kafelnikov.ogg; born 18 February 1974) is a Russian former professional tennis p ...
of
Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...
was the reigning gold medalist from
2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...
, but he retired from the sport in 2003.
Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...
's
Roger Federer Roger Federer ( , ; born 8 August 1981) is a Swiss former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 3 ...
was the world No. 1, but he lost to world No. 74 Tomáš Berdych of the
Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...
in the second round.


Background

The men's singles tournament of the
2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad (), and officially branded as Athens 2004 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 13 to 29 August 2004 in Athens, Greece. The Games saw 10,625 athletes ...
was held at the Athens Olympic Tennis Centre in
Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...
, Greece from 15 to 22 August 2004.
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 ...
was one of the original sports of the 1896 Summer Olympics. It was withdrawn after the
1924 Summer Olympics The 1924 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the VIII Olympiad () and officially branded as Paris 1924, were an international multi-sport event held in Paris, France. The opening ceremony was held on 5 July, but some competitions had al ...
due to disagreements between the sport's governing body, the International Tennis Federation (ITF), and the independent Olympic organisation, the
International Olympic Committee The International Olympic Committee (IOC; , CIO) is the international, non-governmental, sports governing body of the modern Olympic Games. Founded in 1894 by Pierre de Coubertin and Demetrios Vikelas, it is based i ...
(IOC) over how to define amateur athletes. The IOC reinstated Tennis to the Olympic programme as a demonstration sport at the 1968 Games and the 1984 Olympics before returning as a full medal sport open to all players at the 1988 Games. The 2004 tournament was the 12th official medal event in men's singles. Five of the eight quarterfinalists from the 2000 tournament returned: silver medalist Tommy Haas of Germany, fourth-place finisher
Roger Federer Roger Federer ( , ; born 8 August 1981) is a Swiss former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 3 ...
of Switzerland, and three men eliminated in the quarterfinals:
Max Mirnyi Maksim Mikalaevich "Max" Mirnyi (born 6 July 1977) is a Belarusian former professional tennis player. Mirnyi became a doubles specialist following his singles career, in which he reached a career-high of World No. 18 (August 2003) and finished ...
of Belarus, Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain, and
Gustavo Kuerten Gustavo "Guga" Kuerten (; born 10 September 1976) is a Brazilian former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the list of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals f ...
of Brazil. Algeria, Chinese Taipei, and Cyprus each made their debut in the event. France made its 11th appearance, most among all nations, having missed only the 1904 event.


Qualification

Qualification for the single tournament was restricted to four players per
National Olympic Committee A National Olympic Committee (NOC) is a national constituent of the worldwide Olympic movement. Subject to the controls of the International Olympic Committee, NOCs are responsible for organizing their people's participation in the Olympic Games ...
(NOC), an organisation representing a country at the Olympics. National Tennis Associations who were members of the ITF before 1 January 2004 were allowed to nominate players for entry into the competition. The tournament featured a total of 64 players with 48 qualifying on their ITF World Ranking on 14 June and two received invitations from the Tripartite Commission. Any NOC who had more than four players able to qualify by this method were encouraged to choose their highest ranked players eligible to compete in the tournament. The remaining 14 qualified via wild card places: eight were selected on their world ranking and the remaining six were chosen on the basis of his world ranking, whether his country has representation in tennis, the number of players who were in Athens and his geographical location. Players who earned automatic entry into the draw and who withdrew from the competition due to illness, injury or bereavement before midnight on 7 August were replaced by one from his own country or the next highest ranking entry. Had this not been the case, then the ITF selected the highest ranked nominated player or eligible competitor if a country had more than four players to the tournament.


Preview

Sixteen players were seeded according to their final position in the ITF world rankings by the referee of the competition. The 2003 Wimbledon champion
Roger Federer Roger Federer ( , ; born 8 August 1981) is a Swiss former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 3 ...
was seeded first, Andy Roddick was the second seed, Carlos Moyá was seed third and Tim Henman was seeded fourth. Martin Verkerk, the 2003 French Open runner-up, sustained a chest muscle injury that required him to withdraw from the tournament. Verkerk was replaced in the draw by Wayne Arthurs. World number three Guillermo Coria had a right shoulder tendinitis injury that made it sore and withdrew from the competition with his place taken by world number 40 Mariano Zabaleta. World number five and 2004 French Open champion Gastón Gaudio aggravated a post-traumatic right heel injury and right shoulder pain playing in the 2004 Cincinnati Masters and became the second Argentine to withdraw from the competition. His compatriot and world number 50 Agustín Calleri replaced him. David Nalbandian, the 2002 Wimbledon runner-up, withdrew with a strained left thigh and he was the third Argentine player to leave the event. Frédéric Niemeyer replaced him in the draw. A right wrist injury caused Irakli Labadze to withdraw from the tournament and Vladimir Voltchkov, a 2000 Wimbledon semi-finalist, replaced him. Federer was considered by the press as the strong favourite before the tournament. Henman, who had played in two previous Olympic Games, commented on his chances of victory, "Federer goes into the event favourite, there's no doubt about that. And ndyRoddick will fancy his chances on a hard court. But I've beaten both of them this year so, if I can stay healthy and execute my intended game-plan, then there's a chance for me too. I'd be lying if I said I haven't dreamed of winning the gold medal." Roddick used his pre-tournament press conference to state that he wanted to medal at the Olympics and was concerned about his opponent in the first round.


Ranking points

The breakdown of ranking points towards the ATP rankings is shown below:


Tournament summary

The tournament was a single elimination competition with a bronze-medal match. The competition was played on hard courts as the best-of-three sets in every match until the gold medal game, which was held to the best-of-five sets.


Round 1

The draw for the first round of the championship was made on 12 August in Building H of the Athens 2004 Conference Room at ATHOC Headquarters. The first round of the competition, in which 64 players participated, took place from 15 to 16 August. Roddick took a 6–3, 7–6 straight sets victory over Flávio Saretta as wild card entrant Arthurs defeated Victor Hănescu 6–4, 7–6. Marcos Baghdatis, the 2003 ITF Junior World champion and a player who received funding from Olympic Solidarity, recovered from one set behind to win 5–7, 7–6, 7–5 over Grégory Carraz.A 6–3, 6–1 triumph came for the fifth seed Juan Carlos Ferrero against Hicham Arazi before
Max Mirnyi Maksim Mikalaevich "Max" Mirnyi (born 6 July 1977) is a Belarusian former professional tennis player. Mirnyi became a doubles specialist following his singles career, in which he reached a career-high of World No. 18 (August 2003) and finished ...
caused an upset over the 11th seed Juan Ignacio Chela by taking a 3–6, 7–6, 6–4 win. Henman, a silver medallist in the 1996 Olympic doubles event, was the highest placed seed to lose in the first round when he lost to world number 27 Jiří Novák 6–3, 6–3 due to an inconsistent and error-prone play in a 68-minute match that took place in blustery weather.
Marat Safin Marat Mubinovich Safin ( rus, Мара́т Муби́нович Са́фин, , mɐˈrat ˈsafʲɪn, Ru-Marat-Safin.ogg; ; born 27 January 1980) is a Russian former professional tennis player and former politician. He was ranked as the List of ...
, a seeded player regarded as one who was in danger of elimination, won the first set of his match against Karol Kučera within 20 minutes. After Kučera played less cautiously in the second set, a break in the fifth game saw Safin claim a 6–0, 6–4 victory. Moyá, the 1998 French Open champion, took almost three hours and a total of five match points in the final two sets of his game against Thomas Enqvist to win 7–6, 6–7, 9–7. Paradorn Srichaphan, the 12th seed, was upset by Joachim Johansson in a 6–3, 6–3 straight sets defeat, and another upset victory occurred when the 13th seed Andrei Pavel lost to Ivo Karlović. Olivier Rochus came from a set behind Mark Philippoussis, who played in his first match in four weeks since after receiving artificial cartilage injections into his left knee, to claim a 3–6, 6–0, 6–1 victory. Philippoussis had tendinitis in his left knee that caused discomfort during the match and affected his movement. Federer took 1¾ hours to defeat Nikolay Davydenko 6–3, 5–7, 6–1. He received an official warning for ball abuse when he struck the ball onto the roof of the centre court in frustration over his play in the second set.


Round 2

The second round occurred on 17 August. Calleri withdrew at this stage of the tournament because of strain to his left abdominal, giving his opponent Igor Andreev a
walkover John Baxter Taylor and William Robbins (athlete)">William Robbins to refuse to race in protest. A walkover, also W.O. or w/o (originally two words: "walk over"), is awarded to the opposing team/player, etc., if there are no other players avail ...
into the third round and no players from Argentina left in the competition. Unseeded player and world number 49 Mardy Fish came from one set and a break point behind to claim a 4–6, 7–6 (7-5), 6–4 victory over former world number one Juan Carlos Ferrero. Fish said of his win, "There were a lot of Spanish people out there cheering for him. So whoever was cheering for me, I was pointing at them." Another second round winner from the United States came in the form of Taylor Dent, who recovered from a slow start to defeat Dominik Hrbatý 7–6, 6–4. Roddick made 17 aces, 30 winners and 57 unforced errors in coming back from two match points behind and defeating the 2000 silver medallist Tommy Haas 6–4, 3–6, 9–7 in a 2-hour and 19 minute match. Federer was the highest ranked player to lose in the second round when world number 74 Tomáš Berdych beat him 4–6, 7–5, 7–5 due to a poor serve and a series of unforced errors. Berdych said of the victory, "It was everything. This guy won Wimbledon and the Australian Open and now you are the player who beats him. Unbelievable." Moyá defeated Olivier Rochus 6–0, 7–6 and tenth seed Nicolás Massú won 7–6, 6–2 over Vince Spadea.


Schedule

All times are Greece Standard Time ( UTC+2) The schedule was condensed compared to previous Games, taking only 8 days rather than 11 to complete.


Seeds


Draw


Finals


Top half


Section 1


Section 2


Bottom half


Section 3


Section 4


References


External links


Results
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tennis at the 2004 Summer Olympics - Men's singles Men's Singles Men's events at the 2004 Summer Olympics