Tennis at the 1896 Summer Olympics – Men's singles

The men's singles was one of two tennis events on the Tennis at the 1896 Summer Olympics programme. The sixteen entrants were seeded into a single-elimination tournament, with only thirteen or fifteen of the players actually competing. They represented six nations.

Men's singles tennis
at the Games of the I Olympiad
Singles final in 1896 Olympic tennis
VenueNeo Phaliron Velodrome
Athens Lawn Tennis Club
DatesApril 8 (first round)
April 9 (quarterfinals)
April 10 (semifinals)
April 11 (final)
Competitors13 from 6 nations
Medalists
John Pius Boland
 Great Britain
Dionysios Kasdaglis
 Greece
Momčilo Tapavica
 Hungary
Konstantinos Paspatis
 Greece
Tennis at the
1896 Summer Olympics
Singlesmen
Doublesmen

Background

This was the first appearance of the men's singles tennis. The event has been held at every Summer Olympics where tennis has been on the program: from 1896 to 1924 and then from 1988 to the current program. Demonstration events were held in 1968 and 1984.

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.[1][2]

Competition format

Under ancient Greek single-elimination tournament rules, there were no brackets as under modern single-elimination rules; instead, all participants in a round were paired off with one bye if a round had an odd number of participants left. This format could result in a semifinals round with only 3 competitors (as happened in both the 1896 wrestling and doubles tennis events, which started with 5 wrestlers/pairs: the first round had two matches, with one wrestler/pair having a bye, and the second round had only one match, with another wrestler/pair having a bye; a modern tournament would have had one match in the first round with three byes, leading to two semifinals). The organizers avoided this problem in the singles tennis by dividing the players into four groups, with each group playing a single elimination tournament and the winner of each group advancing to the semifinals.[2]

No bronze medal match was held; both semifinal losers are now considered bronze medal winners (the current medal system was not used at the time).

Schedule
Date Time Round
Gregorian Julian
Wednesday, 8 April 1896Wednesday, 27 March 1896Round 1
Thursday, 9 April 1896Thursday, 28 March 1896Round 1 continued
Quarterfinals
Friday, 10 April 1896Friday, 29 March 1896Quarterfinals continued
Semifinals
Saturday, 11 April 1896Saturday, 30 March 1896Final

Draw

Key

Finals

The International Society of Olympic Historians gives only thirteen players; according to them Frank and George Marshall did not participate.

 
First RoundQuarter-finalsSemi-finalsFinal
 
                      
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 K Akratopoulos (GRE)
 
 
 
 D Kasdaglis (GRE)
 
 Dionysios Kasdaglis (GRE)
 
 
 
 J. Defert (FRA)
 
 D Kasdaglis (GRE)
 
 
 
 M Tapavica (HUN)
 
 Momčilo Tapavica (HUN)
 
 
 
 Dimitris Frangopoulos (GRE)
 
 M Tapavica (HUN)
 
 
 
 
 
 George Marshall (GBR)———
 
 
 
 Frank Marshall (GBR)———
 
 D Kasdaglis (GRE) 31
 
 
 
 JP Boland (GBR) 66
 
 Evangelos Rallis (GRE)
 
 
 
 Demetrios Petrokokkinos (GRE)
 
 E Rallis (GRE)
 
 
 
 JP Boland (GBR)
 
 John Boland (GBR)626
 
 
 
 Friedrich Traun (GER)062
 
 JP Boland (GBR)
 
 
 
 K Paspatis (GRE)
 
 Konstantinos Paspatis (GRE)
 
 
 
 George Robertson (GBR)
 
 K Paspatis (GRE)
 
 
 
 A Akratopoulos (GRE)
 
 Aristidis Akratopoulos (GRE)
 
 
 Edwin Flack (AUS)
 

Results summary
RankPlayerNationRound of 16QuarterfinalsSemifinalsFinal
John Pius Boland  Great Britain  Traun (GER)
W 6–0, 2–6, 6–2		  Rallis (GRE)
W		  Paspatis (GRE)
W		  Kasdaglis (GRE)
W 6–3, 6–1
Dionysios Kasdaglis  Greece  Defert (FRA)
W		  K Akratopoulos (GRE)
W		  Tapavica (HUN)
W		  Boland (GRE)
L 6–3, 6–1
Konstantinos Paspatis  Greece  Robertson (GBR)
W		  A Akratopoulos (GRE)
W		  Boland (GBR)
L		 Did not advance
Momčilo Tapavica  Hungary  Frangopoulos (GRE)
W		  G Marshall (GBR)
W		  Kasdaglis (GRE)
L		 Did not advance
5Aristidis Akratopoulos  Greece  Flack (AUS)
W		  Paspatis (GRE)
L		 Did not advance
Konstantinos Akratopoulos  Greece Bye  Kasdaglis (GRE)
L		 Did not advance
Evangelos Rallis  Greece  Petrokokkinos (GRE)
W		  Boland (GBR)
L		 Did not advance
8J. Defert  France  Kasdaglis (GRE)
L		 Did not advance
Edwin Flack  Australia  A Akratopoulos (GRE)
L		 Did not advance
Dimitris Frangopoulos  Greece  Tapavica (HUN)
L		 Did not advance
George S. Robertson  Great Britain  Paspatis (GRE)
L		 Did not advance
Friedrich Traun  Germany  Boland (GBR)
L 6–0, 2–6, 6–2		 Did not advance
Demetrios Petrokokkinos  Greece  Rallis (GRE)
L		 Did not advance
— Frank Marshall  Great Britain  G Marshall (GBR)
L DNS		 Did not advance
George Marshall  Great Britain  F Marshall (GBR)
L DNS		 Did not advance

References
  1. "Tennis at the 1896 Summer Olympics". Olympedia. Retrieved 18 December 2020.
  2. "Singles, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 18 December 2020.
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