West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

Steffi Graf Stefanie Maria Graf ( , ; born 14 June 1969) is a German former professional tennis player. Widely regarded as one of the greatest tennis players of all time, she was ranked world No. 1 for a record 377 weeks and won 22 major singles titles, ...

defeated

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

Gabriela Sabatini Gabriela Beatriz Sabatini (; born 16 May 1970) is an Argentine-Italian 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 ...

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

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 ...

at the

1988 Summer Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and commonly known as Seoul 1988 ( ko, 서울 1988, Seoul Cheon gubaek palsip-pal), was an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October ...

. With the win, Graf completed the

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 ...

, having also won all four

majors Jonathan Michael Majors (born September 7, 1989)Majors in is an American actor. He rose to prominence after starring in the independent feature film ''The Last Black Man in San Francisco'' (2019). In 2020, he garnered wider notice for portraying ...

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 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 ...

. The

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

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 m ...

and

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...

's Manuela Maleeva-Fragnière 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. It hosted the tennis events for the 1988 Summer Olympics and has hosted several South Korea Davis Cup team and South Korea Fed Cup team ties. ...

. 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– 30 – Kuomintang in China hol ...

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 tournament titles (singles, doubles, and mixed doubles) du ...

, 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 time offset from UTC of +10:00. This time is used in: As standard time (year-round) ''Principal cities: Brisbane, Gold Coast, Vladivostok, Khabarovsk, Port Moresby, Dededo, Saipan'' North Asia *Russia – ...

)

Seeds

All

seeds A seed is an embryonic plant enclosed in a protective outer covering, along with a food reserve. The formation of the seed is a part of the process of reproduction in seed plants, the spermatophytes, including the gymnosperm and angiosperm pl ...

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