Who Is Playing Tennis In The Olympics 2021?
Contents
Keep up with the latest news on which athletes are playing tennis in the Olympics 2021. Get tips on who to watch and what to expect from the competition.
Rafael Nadal
Rafael Nadal is a Spanish professional tennis player. He is ranked world No. 2 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). Nadal has won 20 Grand Slam singles titles, the second most in history for a male player, as well as 35 ATP Tour Masters 1000 titles, 20 ATP Tour 500 titles, and the Olympic gold medal in singles at the 2008 Summer Olympics. In majors, Nadal has won a record 13 French Open titles, two Wimbledon titles, four US Open titles, and two Australian Open titles.
Overview
Rafael Nadal is a Spanish tennis player who is widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time. He has won 20 Grand Slam singles titles, the most of any male player, and is the only player to win all four Grand Slam tournaments on clay. Nadal has also won an Olympic gold medal in singles and helped lead Spain to victory in the Davis Cup five times.
Olympic History
Although Rafael Nadal has never won an Olympic gold medal, he is still considered one of the greatest tennis players in history. He has won 19 Grand Slam titles, including a record-tying 12 French Open championships. Nadal was born in Mallorca, Spain, on June 3, 1986. He began playing tennis at age four and made his professional debut in 2004. In 2008, he won his first Olympic medal—a gold in men’s doubles with fellow Spaniard Marc López. At the 2012 London Olympics, Nadal lost in the singles gold-medal match to Roger Federer of Switzerland. He rebounded to win a second Olympic gold medal in doubles with Marc López at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics.
Results in 2021
Rafael Nadal has had a great start to the 2021 tennis season. The Spaniard has won two tournaments and reached the final of another. His victories have come at the Abu Dhabi Exhibition, where he beat Stefanos Tsitsipas in the final, and at the Qatar Open, where he defeated Andrey Rublev in the final. Nadal’s run to the final of the Australian Open was ended by Novak Djokovic in a five-set thriller.
Novak Djokovic
Djokovic is a professional tennis player from Serbia who is currently ranked world No. 1 in men’s singles tennis by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). He is the first Serbian player to be ranked No. 1 by the ATP. He has won 17 Grand Slam singles titles, the third-most in history.
Overview
Novak Djokovic is a Serbian professional tennis player who is currently ranked world No. 1 in men’s singles tennis by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). He is widely considered one of the greatest tennis players of all time.
A flexible and powerful all-court player, Djokovic is known for his great footwork, shooting accuracy, and ability to read the game, earning him the nickname “The Joker”. He has won 17 Grand Slam singles titles, the third most in history for a male player, after Roger Federer (20) and Rafael Nadal (19).
Djokovic holds two Olympic gold medals in singles, from Beijing 2008 and London 2012. He has also been a member of the Serbia Davis Cup team that won the 2010 Davis Cup. In 2016, he became the 8th player in ATP history to achieve a Career Golden Masters, which were all achieved in receipt of the ATP World Tour Finals title; and he is one of only three active players to have held all four Grand Slam tournament titles at some point in their careers.
Olympic History
Djokovic has been a member of the Serbian Olympic team at three Summer Olympics, 2008 in Beijing, 2012 in London, and 2016 in Rio de Janeiro. He has won a total of two Olympic medals: a silver medal in Beijing and a bronze medal in London.
Djokovic’s first major international tournament was the 2001 Junior Wimbledon championships, where he reached the third round before losing to Mario Ančić.
Results in 2021
In 2021, Djokovic won his ninth Australian Open title, defeating Daniil Medvedev in the final in straight sets. This was Djokovic’s third consecutive Australian Open title and his eighteenth Grand Slam singles title overall, tying Federer for the most Major wins by a male player. In February, Djokovic reached the ATP Finals for the tenth consecutive year. In March, Djokovic won his eighth ATP Masters 1000 title at the Miami Open, defeating John Isner in the final. This was Djokovic’s fifth Miami Open title.
Roger Federer
Swiss tennis player Roger Federer is playing in the Olympics for the first time since 2008. He is scheduled to compete in the men’s singles and men’s doubles events.
Overview
Roger Federer (born 8 August 1981) is a Swiss professional tennis player who is currently ranked world No. 3 in men’s singles tennis by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). He has won 20 Grand Slam singles titles—the most in history for a male player—and has held the world No. 1 spot in the ATP rankings for a record 310 weeks.
Olympic History
Roger Federer is a Swiss tennis player who is currently ranked No. 4 in the world by the ATP. He has won 20 Grand Slam singles titles, an all-time record for a male player, and has held the No. 1 ranking in the ATP Singles Rankings for a record 310 weeks.
Results in 2021
Roger Federer is a Swiss professional tennis player who is currently ranked world No. 4 in the ATP rankings. He has won 20 Grand Slam singles titles, an all-time record for a male player.
Serena Williams
Serena Williams is an American professional tennis player who is currently ranked No. 8 in the world by the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA). She has won 23 Grand Slam singles titles, the most of any active female player.
Overview
Serena Jameka Williams (born September 26, 1981) is an American professional tennis player. The Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) ranked her world No. 1 in singles on eight separate occasions between 2002 and 2017. She reached the No. 1 ranking for the first time on July 8, 2002. On her sixth occasion, she held the ranking for 186 consecutive weeks, tying the record set by Steffi Graf for the most consecutive weeks as No. 1 by a female tennis player. In total, she has been No. 1 for 319 weeks, which ranks third in the Open Era among female players behind Graf and Martina Navratilova.
Williams has won 23 Grand Slam singles titles, tied with Margaret Court for the most in history. This includes an all-time record of 13 straight wins in Grand Slam singles finals, from the 2000 Wimbledon Championships through the 2003 Australian Open. She is also the most recent female player to have won both the French Open and Wimbledon singles titles in the same calendar year (2002). Williams is one of only four women to have won five or more Wimbledon singles titles in history; she has also won a record-tying seven Wimbledon doubles titles with her sister Venus and an all-time record four Olympic gold medals in women’s tennis (singles and doubles). With 49 singles titles, she is currently tied with Venus Williams for seventh place on the WTA’s all-time list not counting Fed Cup matches Serena Williams has also won four mixed doubles Grand Slam titles, one WTA Championships in doubles and two Olympic gold medals with Max Mirnyi of Belarus (in mixed doubles).
Off court, Williams has been ranked by Forbes as America’s richest female athlete three times since 2006 and was ranked number 62 on Forbes’ list of “The World’s 100 Highest-Paid Athletes” in 2019 with $29 million in earnings (an estimated $27 million from endorsements/sponsorships and $2 million from prize money). She became only third tennis player to earn over $100 million being placed at number 19 on list of Forbes 2019 “World’s highest paid athletes”.
Olympic History
Serena has cemented her place in history as one of the most successful athletes ever, and she shows no signs of slowing down. With 23 Grand Slam singles titles under her belt, she is just two shy of Margaret Court’s all-time record. In addition to her impressive singles accomplishments, Williams has won 14 Grand Slam doubles titles playing alongside her sister Venus.
Serena made her Olympic debut at the Sydney Games in 2000, where she reached the quarterfinals in singles and won a gold medal in doubles with Venus. The sisters repeated as Olympic champions in doubles at the 2012 London Games, where Serena also won a gold medal in singles. She is currently ranked No. 1 in both singles and doubles by the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA).
Results in 2021
Serena Williams has been a professional tennis player since 1995. She has won 23 Grand Slam singles titles, which is more than any other player in the history of women’s tennis, and she has been ranked world No. 1 by the Women’s Tennis Association on eight occasions.
In 2021, Serena won her first title of the year at the ASB Classic in Auckland, New Zealand. She then reached the quarterfinals of the Australian Open, before losing to Karolina Pliskova. At the French Open, she lost in the third round to Nadia Podoroska. Williams then withdrew from Wimbledon due to an Achilles injury.
Naomi Osaka
Naomi Osaka is a Japanese professional tennis player. She is the reigning US Open and Australian Open singles champion, and is currently ranked No. 3 in the world by the Women’s Tennis Association. She has won four Grand Slam singles titles overall.
Overview
Naomi Osaka (born October 16, 1997) is a Japanese professional tennis player. She is the reigning women’s singles champion at the US Open and the Australian Open. She is also a two-time major champion, having won the 2018 US Open and 2019 Australian Open. As of February 15, 2021, she is ranked No. 2 in the world by the WTA. In her first four Grand Slam tournaments, she reached at least the quarterfinal stage each time. She is the first Asian player to hold the No. 1 ranking in singles by the WTA, and the second woman after Serena Williams to win three consecutive Grand Slam titles since Williams did so at Wimbledon in 2015.
Osaka has been praised for her playing style and powerful groundstrokes. Her serve has been described as one of her biggest weapons, and she routinely hits speeds over 120 miles per hour (200 km/h). She has also been praised for her mental fortitude and composure on court. In 2019, Time magazine named Osaka one of their 100 Most Influential People in The World.
Olympic History
Naomi Osaka was born in Osaka, Japan, on October 16, 1997. She became a professional tennis player in 2013 and turned pro the following year. In 2018, she reached the final of the US Open, becoming the first Japanese player to do so in singles competition. She won the tournament, defeating Serena Williams in straight sets. This made her the first Japanese player to win a Grand Slam singles title.
Results in 2021
Naomi Osaka has had a phenomenal year on the tennis court in 2021. The 22-year-old has already won two Grand Slam titles, at the Australian Open and French Open, and she is currently ranked No. 1 in the world. She is also the reigning Olympic gold medalist in tennis, having won the title in 2016.
Despite her success, Osaka has struggled with her mental health in recent years, and she has been outspoken about her battle with depression. In March of 2021, she announced that she would be taking a break from tennis to focus on her mental health. She returned to competition in April, and she has since reached the semifinals of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia tournament and the final of the Madrid Open.
