Tennis at the 1896 Summer Olympics


At the 1896 Summer Olympics, two tennis events were contested, both for men. They began on 8 April and continued on 9 April, 10 April, and 11 April. 13 or 15 competitors from six nations, including seven Greeks, took part in the tennis competition. Many of the doubles teams were of mixed nationality, including all three medalist pairs. None of the leading players of the time such as Wimbledon champion Harold Mahony, U.S champion Robert Wrenn, William Larned or Wilfred Baddeley participated. To strengthen the field, the organization added sportsmen from other Olympic events, including weightlifter Momčilo Tapavica, hammer thrower George S. Robertson and 800-metres runners Edwin Flack and Friedrich Traun.

Medal summary

These medals are retroactively assigned by the International Olympic Committee; at the time, winners were given a silver medal and runners-up bronze medals. Athletes coming third received no award.

Events

The doubles team of Kasdaglis and Petrokokkinos appears in the IOC results database as a mixed team. Kasdaglis is listed as Greek in the database for the singles event. Petrokokkinos, not having won a singles medal, is not identified with any nation in the IOC database; however, all sources which do give a nationality for Petrokokkinos give it as Greek. Kasdaglis, a Greek national residing in Alexandria after years in Great Britain, is listed as Egyptian or as British in some sources.

Medal table

Competitors from Australia and Germany won medals only as a part of a mixed team in the doubles event.

Participating nations

A total of 15 tennis players from 6 nations competed at the Athens Games:
The International Society of Olympic Historians gives only thirteen players; according to them British players Frank and George Marshall did not participate.