The tennis competition in Tokyo is just a COVID test away, but the Backspin Olympic Tennis Quiz is here --
right now -- no matter how that turns out.
Whew!
NOTE: These questions refer to Olympic tennis since the sport returned to the Games in 1988.
1. Monica Puig's remarkable run to the singles title in Rio in 2016 made her the first athlete representing Puerto Rico to ever win Olympic Gold. The lowest ranked woman to win the Olympic women's singles title, what was her ranking at the time?
a. #24
b. #34
c. #44
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2.
True or False? While both Venus and Serena Williams have swept Olympic Gold in both singles and doubles in a single Games (
Venus in Sydney in 2000, Serena in London in '12), there has never been a male player who's swept both titles at the same Olympics since tennis returned as a medal sport in 1988. [
If answer is "False," which men's player did it?]
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3. Who did Steffi Graf defeat in the singles final in Seoul to collect the Olympic leg of her 1988 "Golden Slam?"
a. Gabriela Sabatini
b. Martina Navratilova
c. Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario
d. Conchita Martinez
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4. Andy Murray's successful defense of his 2012 singles title (in London) at the '16 Rio Games made him the only Olympic singles champion to win back-to-back Golds. Which previous men's slam champion did Murray defeat in the final to take the Gold in Brazil?
a. Roger Federer
b. Novak Djokovic
c. Rafael Nadal
d. Juan Martin del Potro
e. Stan Wawrinka
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5. How old was Jennifer Capriati when she won Olympic singles Gold?
a. 16
b. 17
c. 18
d. 19
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6.
True or False? In 2012, when Serena Williams, Maria Sharapova and Victoria Azarenka filled the medal stand, it marked the only Olympiad in which each of the women's singles medalists had spent time as the #1-ranked singles player in the world at some point during their careers.
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7. Serena Williams has participated in singles at three Olympics. She won Gold in 2012, but lost in the QF in 2008 and 3rd Round in '16. Which two players defeated her?
a. Maria Sharapova & Angelique Kerber
b. Dinara Safina & Alize Cornet
c. Elena Dementieva & Elina Svitolina
d. Vera Zvonareva & Petra Kvitova
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8. What is the worst result posted by a men's singles #1 seed in Olympic competition?
a. 1st Round
b. 2nd Round
c. 3rd Round
This result has occurred twice. Which two #1 seeds fell?
a. Jim Courier & Rafael Nadal
b. Marat Safin & Novak Djokovic
c. Roger Federer & Novak Djokovic
d. Pete Sampras & Marcelo Rios
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9. In 2016, four different Czech women stepped onto the Olympic medal stand, winning Bronze in all three competitions in Rio. Pick the four women from the group below:
Andrea Hlavackova
Lucie Hradecka
Petra Kvitova
Karolina Pliskova
Kristyna Pliskova
Lucie Sarafova
Barbora Strycova
Renata Voracova
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10. Which duo was the first Russian pair to win women's doubles Gold in the Olympics?
a. Maria Kirilenko & Nadia Petrova
b. Nadia Petrova & Vera Zvonareva
c. Ekaterina Makarova & Elena Vesnina
d. Natasha Zvereva & Leila Meskhi
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Bonus Question:
Yes or No? While several siblings --
the Williamses, Bryans and even the Dohertys (below) way back in 1900 -- have claimed medals as duos throughout Olympic history, has any married pair ever combined their efforts en route to the tennis medal stand?
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>>>[ 3 PTS. EACH UNLESS NOTED ]<<<
1.
b. - #34 Puig's surprise title run included two Top 5 wins and victories over three slam winners (Muguruza, Kvitova and Kerber). Though she'd won just one WTA singles crown in her carer heading into Rio, Puig personally eliminated what would be three of 2016's singles slam titlists (Muguruza RG, Kerber AO/US) from the Olympic competition.
Of note, while Puig was Puerto Rico's first Gold medalist, she actually wasn't the first Puerto Rican-born tennis player to win Gold at the Games. Hall of Famer Gigi Fernandez, who chose to represent the U.S. (
partnering Mary Joe Fernandez), won a pair of doubles Gold medals in 1992 and 1996.
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2.
False. - It's happened once in the men's competition, with Chile's Nicolas Massu sweeping Gold in both singles and doubles Gold in Athens in 2004. Before Massu's double-Gold performance, no Chilean athlete had ever won a Gold medal in Olympic competition.
(3 points for "False" correct, +3 bonus points if correctly said Massu.)
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3.
a. - Graf defeated Sabatini 6-3/6-3 in the Seoul final in 1988. Sabatini would also lose in the final to Graf in another leg of the German's "Golden Slam" that season, at the U.S. Open. But, two years later, Sabatini would defeat Graf at the U.S. Open to claim her only slam singles title. The Argentine won a doubles slam title at Wimbledon in 1988, as well... while partnering Graf, of course.
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4.
d. - Murray defeated del Potro in four sets to claim his second straight Olympic Gold. The Scot had defeated Federer in the '12 final in London, and knocked off both Wawrinka (1st Rd.) and Djokovic (SF) en route to his '16 win.
While Murray is the only back-to-back singles Gold medalist, Steffi Graf *did* claim back-to-back Olympic competitions in 1984 and '88. Prior to the Golden Slam leg in '88, the then 15-year old German had won the '84 event in Los Angeles, as well, but tennis was classified as only a "demonstration sport" that year before it returned as a full medal sport in '88 for the first time since 1924.
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5.
a. - Capriati was 16 in Barcelona '92 when she defeated Steffi Graf in the singles final. It would be eight and a half years before she'd finally win her first slam title at the Australian Open in 2001.
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6.
True. - 2012 was the first time all the women's singles medalists were one-time #1-ranked players. In 1992, Jennifer Capriati (Gold), Steffi Graf (Silver) and Arantxa Sanchez Vicario (Bronze) met the standard, but at those Olympics there was no head-to-head match to decide 3rd/4th place, so Mary Joe Fernandez (
who reached only #4) shared the Bronze medal honors with ASV.
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7.
c. - Dementieva defeated Serena Williams in three sets in the QF of the 2008 Olympics. Dementieva went on to win the Gold in the Russian sweep of the medals, as Safina took Silver and Zvonareva the Bronze. Sharapova didn't participate in her first Olympics until 2012, when she lost in the Gold Medal Match to Williams.
In 2016, Svitolina recorded her first career #1 win with a 3rd Round upset of Williams. It remains her only victory over Williams in six career meetings. Williams defeated Cornet in the 2nd Round in Rio, but did lose to the French woman three times during the '14 season. Kvitova defeated Svitolina 2 & love a round after the Ukrainian's win over Williams, and went on to win Bronze. Kerber lost the Gold match to Monica Puig in '16 in what was the German's breakout season in which she won two majors (
def. Serena in the AO final) and reached finals at Wimbledon (
losing to Williams) and the WTAF in addition to the Olympics.
Serena didn't qualify for the '00 Olympics, pulled out of the '04 games in Athens one week before the start of play due to a knee injury, and decided to skip this year's Olympics in Tokyo following her retirement with a leg injury at Wimbledon. Still, Williams is one of just three singles players -- along with Steffi Graf and Andre Agassi -- to have ever won all four slams, plus Olympic singles Gold and a season-ending tour championship title.
Novak Djokovic can join that rare list with a Gold run in Tokyo in '21.
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8a.
a. - (3 pts.) Twice men's #1 seeds have lost in their first Olympic match in the eight Olympiads since the sport's return to the Games in 1988.
8b.
b. - (3 pts) Marat Safin lost to Fabrice Santoro in his opening match in 2000, while Novak Djokovic was upended by Juan Martin del Potro in 2016 (
the Argentine handed the Serb back-to-back Olympic defeats, having won their '12 Bronze medal match in London, as well).
Such an early exit has never happened in the women's competition.
Lindsay Davenport's 2nd Round exit in 2000 has been the earliest demise of a #1 women's seed, but she wasn't defeated, having retired before her match with Rossana de los Ríos due to injury. Davenport had been attempting to defend her 1996 Gold. In 2008, Ana Ivanovic pulled out before the start of the event due to a thumb injury, leaving #2 Jelena Jankovic as the top remaining seed (
she reached the QF, losing to Dinara Safina). Serena Williams' 3rd Round loss in '16 (vs. Svitolina) remains the earliest defeat of an Olympic women's #1 seed.
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9.
Hradecka, Kvitova, Safarova and Strycova. - (2 pts. for each of four correct answers) Kvitova defeated Madison Keys in the Bronze medal singles match, while Safarova/Strycova defeated Hlavackova/Hradecka to finish third in the doubles. Hradecka made good on her second medal attempt, teaming with Radek Stepanek for mixed doubles Bronze (def. Mirza/Bopanna)
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10.
c. - Makarova/Vesnina became the first and only Russian duo to win Olympic doubles Gold by taking the title in Rio in 2016. Kirilenko/Petrova won the Bronze in 2012.
Zvereva and Meskhi --
Belarusian and Georgia-born, respectively -- competed as representatives of the Soviet Union early in their tennis careers. After the break-up of the U.S.S.R., the 1992 Games featured a contingent of athletes from twelve of the fifteen former Soviet republics that chose to compete together as a group referred to as the "Unified Team." The duo won the doubles Bronze that year in Barcelona, the only Olympic medals they won in their careers.
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Bonus:
No... well, and yes (so you get points here no matter your answer) - In fact, France's husband & wife duo of Max & Marie Decugis DID win mixed doubles Gold at the 1906 Second International Olympic Games in Athens, which were originally set up as an officially recognized Games to take place in Athens in intermediate years, between the regularly scheduled Olympic events held in other cities.
Such an "in-between" Olympiad was never held again, and this competition is now known as the "
Intercalated Games." The winners of medals in all sports in 1906 are no longer viewed as "official" Olympic medalists, as the status was retroactively revoked by the IOC.
Of course, Steffi Graf (1988) and Andre Agassi (1996) both won singles Gold years before their 2001 marriage.
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GOLD: 31-42 = Who ya got? Djokovic, "the field"...
or maybe you?
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SILVER: 22-30 = The creed, or guiding principle, of the modern Olympic Games is a quote by Baron de Coubertin:
"The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle."
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BRONZE: 16-21 = Bronze is good. I mean, if the frustrated Silver medalist gets angry enough to push the Gold medalist off the top of the podium you can
so easily just step out of the way and avoid the whole mess.
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TIN: 7-15 = Umm, let's see. Oh, I know!
Fourth place is like being the first-place finisher of "all the rest." Hmmm, is that like handing out a "participation ribbon?"
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PAPER: 0-6 = Just like Serena, Roger, Rafa, Simona, Angie, Bianca, Vika and Sofia, you essentially chose to sit this one out.
Hey, if nothing else, your "prize" could be refashioned into the form of a mask that might come in handy in these strange times, right?
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All for now.
