2016 OLYMPIC TENNIS NOTES / RESULTS / REMARKS / DRAWS AND THE BRAVO TELEVISION SCHEDULE FROM RIO FOR THE UNITED STATES TEAM

Written by: Staff on 7th August 2016

2016 OLYMPIC TENNIS NOTES / RESULTS / REMARKS / DRAWS AND THE BRAVO TELEVISION SCHEDULE FROM RIO FOR THE UNITED STATES TEAM

epa05460648 A fan poses for a photo during women's singles 1st round match between Venus Williams of the USA and Kirsten Flipkens of Belgium of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games Tennis events at the Olympic Tennis Centre in the Olympic Park in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 06 August 2016. EPA/MICHAEL REYNOLDS |

2016 Olympic Games

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Olympic Tennis Center, Rio Olympic Park

Tennis Competition Dates: August 6-14

RESULTS -(SATURDAY, AUGUST 7, 2016)

Madison Keys (United States) def. Danka Kovinic (Montenegro) 63 63

Taro Daniel (Japan) def. Jack Sock (United States) 64 64

Steve Johnson (United States) def. Darian King (Barbados) 63 62

Eugenie Bouchard (Canada) def. Sloane Stephens (United States) 63 63

Yuichi Sugita (Japan) def. Brian Baker (United States) 57 75 46

Andrej Martin (Slovakia) def. Denis Kudla (United States) 60 63

Kirsten Flipkens (Belgium) def. Venus Williams (United States) 46 63 76(5)

ORDER OF PLAY August 8, 2016

Serena Williams (USA) vs Daria Gavrilova (AUS) – Centre Court 2nd

Serena & Venus Williams (USA) vs Lucie Safarova & Barbora Strycova (CZE) – Court 1 – 4th match

Brian Baker & Rajeev Ram (USA) vs Gael Monfils & Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA) – Court 4 – 5th match

(ESP)

Bethanie Mattek-Sands & Coco Vandeweghe (USA) Anabel Medina Garrigues & Arantxa Parra-Santonja (ESP) – Court 8 – 1st match (11:00 AM)

Steve Johnson & Jack Sock (USA) vs Julio Peralta & Hans Podlipnik-Castillo (CHI) – Court 9 – 3rd match

U.S. OLYMPIC TENNIS TEAM QUOTES

Madison Keys — Thoughts on being on team with Venus & Serena.

“They have been great teammates and I’m really enjoying being part of the American tennis team”

On winning her first match…

“I’m so excited to get my first victory at the Olympic Games and now since I got the first victory I guess I get the bragging rights for our team. Today it sunk in and I was really nervous and I kind of thought it was going to be like Fed Cup but it wasn’t. I’m so happy to be here and I’m so happy to get this whole Olympic experience.”

Jack Sock – “He played a great match and I’m not going to take anything away from that. I’ve had this cough going on since Wimbledon and had it looked at before I got down here. I thought it would get better over time but they said it was walking pneumonia but I’m still trying to play with it but it is not always easy when all of these guys are such great players. I thought it was the coolest thing I’ve ever been a part of. It almost did not feel real and was extremely special.”

On the potential of playing mixed doubles.

“If I can get in I will probably play but I want to maximize my potential and time here.”

Denis Kudla – “It has been an incredible experience especially to be able to be surrounded by the best athletes in the world.”

Brian Baker – on being a first time Olympian and playing at the Rio Games for the first time.

“It’s been an amazing experience Opening ceremonies was definitely a highlight last night. It was to get out there and play today and I really wish the result has been different but at the same time I have to enjoy the experience.”

Steve Johnson – on getting his first Olympic victory.

“You don’t know how many Olympic Games you are going to play. To go out and get one on this first day….It’s really special.” Any tournament is tough but especially at the Olympics since you only get one chance every four years. Super happy with how I played and competed and the end result was something I was looking forward too.”

Sloane Stephens – on tough match

“It was a tough match but still happy to be here and I’ve really enjoyed my experience here and you can’t take that away from me. I’m going to work as hard to try and make it next time around as this was unbelievable.”

Mary Joe Fernandez, women’s Olympic coach – On Venus loss and why (Mary Joe) is there and not Venus. Mary Joe said this:

She is not feeling well and has not been feeling good for a few days. She did everything possible to try and win this and try and win this match.

WHERE TO WATCH

With Rio just one hour ahead of the Eastern Time zone, the 2016 Summer Games will be the most live Olympics ever. NBCU will present 2,084 hours of Olympic linear programming across 11 networks: broadcast networks NBC and TELEMUNDO (Spanish language); cable channels Bravo, CNBC, Golf Channel, MSNBC, NBC Sports Network (NBCSN), NBC UNIVERSO (Spanish language), and USA Network.

Bravo will once again serve as the home of Olympic tennis beginning on Saturday, August 6, and concluding on Sunday, August 14, with the men’s singles final. The women’s singles final airs on Saturday, August 13. For each of the first five days, Bravo will televise Olympic tennis for more than 12 hours, from 9:30 a.m. ET until 10 p.m. ET. The final four days will each consist of eight hours of coverage, from 11 a.m. ET to 7 p.m. ET. This will be the third time that Bravo has hosted Olympic coverage (2004 and 2012).

NBCOlympics.com will provide more than 4,500 hours of live event competition from the 2016 Rio Olympic Games. The site will serve as the preeminent destination for Olympic content and the exclusive home of Olympic video coverage, featuring, for the first time, live streaming coverage of all 2016 Rio Olympic Games competition, plus event rewinds and extensive video highlights.

2016 U.S. OLYMPIC TENNIS TEAM ROSTER

Brian Baker (singles, men’s doubles)

Steve Johnson (singles, men’s doubles)

Madison Keys (singles)

Denis Kudla (singles)

Bethanie Mattek-Sands (women’s doubles)

Rajeev Ram (men’s doubles)

Jack Sock (singles, men’s doubles)

Sloane Stephens (singles)

CoCo Vandeweghe (women’s doubles)

Serena Williams (singles, women’s doubles)

Venus Williams (singles, women’s doubles)

U.S. OLYMPIC TENNIS FACTS

DOMINATING THE WOMEN’S GAME

The United States won all Olympic gold medal opportunities in women’s tennis at the 1992, 1996, 2000 and 2012 Olympic Games. Since 1988, the United States has won all gold medal opportunities in women’s tennis with the exception of four. (.714 winning pct. in winning gold medals since 1988). The U.S. did not win a gold medal in women’s tennis in 2004. Prior to that, the lone gold medal won by a non-American since 1988 was at the 1988 Olympic women’s singles competition, when Steffi Graf of West Germany won gold over Gabriela Sabatini of Argentina.

OVERALL U.S. MEDAL COUNT

The United States has won more Olympic medals in men’s and women’s tennis than any other nation since tennis was re-instated as an Olympic sport in 1988. The United States’ medal total (21) is 10 more than the nearest other medal-winning nations (Spain with 11).

The United States has won six times as many Olympic gold medals in men’s and women’s tennis than any other nation since tennis was reinstated as an Olympic sport in 1988. (USA – 13 gold medals; Russia, Germany/West Germany, Switzerland, and Chile – 2)

YEARS FOR TENNIS IN THE OLYMPICS

The 2016 Games marks the 15th time that tennis has been a full medal sport at the Olympics (Olympic tennis years were 1896-1900-1904-1908-1912, then 1920-1924, and 1988-1992-1996-2000-2004- 2008-2012-2016).

ORIGINS OF OLYMPIC TENNIS

TENNIS IN THE MODERN GAMES

Tennis was one of the nine sports on the Olympic program at the first Modern Olympics in 1896 in Athens, Greece. The first Olympic tennis champion was John Boland, an Irishmen vacationing in Greece at the time of the first Modern Games and entered into the tennis competition upon the urging of a Greek classmate from Oxford. Boland, who would later found the University of Ireland and serve Britain as a member of Parliament, won the singles competition in an eight-man field and paired with a German, Fritz Traun, to sweep the doubles title.

Tennis was a fixture on the Olympic program through the 1924 Games in Paris. The International Tennis Federation – the international governing body for tennis – and the International Olympic Committee saw differences on the definition of amateurism, and on whether Wimbledon should be played in Olympic years. What resulted was the exclusion of tennis from the Olympic Games as an official medal sport until 1988 in Seoul, South Korea.

THE RETURN OF TENNIS AS A FULL MEDAL SPORT

Tennis triumphantly returned to the Olympic Games in 1988 in Seoul, becoming the first Olympic sport to allow professionals to compete (basketball followed suit in 1992). Steffi Graf of West Germany completed the rarest feat in the sport by capping a “Golden Slam” at the Seoul Games, having won all four major titles in professional tennis (Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open) heading into the 1988 Games. Coincidentally, Graf’s husband – American Andre Agassi – is the only other player to win all for major singles titles and an Olympic gold medal in singles during their career.

Men’s Singles Draw