Demonstration men's doubles | |
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Tennis at the 1968 Summer Olympics | |
Champions | ![]() ![]() |
Runners-up | ![]() ![]() |
Score | 6–4, 6–3, 6–4 |
Since the 1968 Summer Olympics did not feature tennis as an official sport, two unofficial tournaments were held during the Games: a Demonstration tournament and an Exhibition tournament. [1]
The Demonstration tournament was played from 14 to 20 October 1968 at three venues in Guadalajara, Mexico: Guadalajara Country Club, Atlas Sports Club and Guadalajara Sports Club; all of them featured clay courts. [2] All matches were played at best-of-five sets; since the tiebreak rule wasn't implemented until the 1970s, a team had to win a set by a two-game margin in case of a 6–6 draw.
Mexicans Rafael Osuna and Vicente Zarazúa won the tournament by defeating Spaniards Juan Gisbert Sr. and Manuel Santana 6–4, 6–3, 6–4 in the final. French Pierre Darmon and Mexican Joaquín Loyo Mayo won the third place.
The top seed received a bye into the second round.
Rafael Osuna Herrera , nicknamed "El Pelón", was a former world No. 1 tennis player, the most successful player in the history of Mexico and an Olympian. He was born in Mexico City, and is best remembered for his singles victory at the U.S. Open Championships in 1963, winning the 1960 and 1963 Wimbledon Doubles championships, the 1962 U.S. Open Championships doubles, and for leading Mexico to its only Davis Cup Final round appearance in 1962. He is the only Mexican to date to be inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame, in 1979.
Michael I. Belkin is a former Canadian No. 1 tennis player.
William Bowrey is a former Australian tennis player. He was ranked world No. 8 in 1967.
Joaquín Loyo-Mayo was a left-handed Mexican athlete who played amateur and professional tennis in the 1960s and 1970s.
Tennis returned to the Summer Olympic program as an exhibition and a demonstration event in 1968. Men's and women's singles and doubles and mixed doubles were held in both, a Demonstration tournament and an Exhibition tournament. The Demonstration tournament was held in Guadalajara and the Exhibition tournament in Mexico City.
George Andrew Toley was an American collegiate tennis coach at the University of Southern California from 1954 to 1980. His teams won ten NCAA team championships, nine individual titles and twelve doubles titles, and included stars such as Alex Olmedo, Rafael Osuna, Dennis Ralston, Joaquín Loyo-Mayo, Raúl Ramírez, Stan Smith, Bob Lutz and Marcelo Lara.
Spain's Rafael Nadal defeated Chile's Fernando González in the final, 6–3, 7–6(7–2), 6–3 to win the gold medal in Men's Singles tennis at the 2008 Summer Olympics. The win gave him the third of five components of the career Golden Slam, having already won the French Open and Wimbledon. He would go on to win the Australian Open and the U.S. Open to become the second man to complete the career Golden Slam in singles. Following the event, Nadal became the world No. 1 for the first time, ending Roger Federer's record streak of 237 consecutive weeks with the top ranking. González became the first man to win a medal in men's singles across consecutive Olympiads since Charles Winslow in 1920. In the bronze medal match, Serbia's Novak Djokovic defeated the United States' James Blake, 6–3, 7–6(7–4). It was Serbia's first Olympic tennis medal.
Vicente Zarazúa is a Mexican former tennis player. He played during the 1960s and 70s, and his best achievement was winning gold medals at the demonstration and exhibition tennis tournaments at the 1968 Summer Olympics.
Vladimir Viktorovich Korotkov is a retired Soviet tennis player who won three Junior Grand Slam tournaments, Wimbledon Juniors in 1964, 1965 and French Juniors in 1965. He also won the mixed doubles at the 1968 Summer Olympics where tennis was a "demonstration sport". He won the men's doubles event at the 1973 Summer Universiade and the 1977 USSR singles championship. From 1981 until his retirement in 1996, Korotkov was coaching at several sports clubs.
Rosa María "Rosie" Reyes Darmon is a retired tennis player from Mexico who was active in the 1950s and 1960s.
The 1975 Western Championships, also known as the Cincinnati Open, was a men's tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts at the Sunlite Swim and Tennis Club at Old Coney in Cincinnati, Ohio in the United States that was part of the 1975 Commercial Union Assurance Grand Prix. It was the 75th edition of the tournament and was held from July 29 through August 3, 1975. Seventh-seeded Tom Gorman won the singles title.
Since the 1968 Summer Olympics did not feature tennis as an official sport, two unofficial tournaments were held during the Games: a Demonstration tournament and an Exhibition tournament.
Since the 1968 Summer Olympics did not feature tennis as an official sport, two unofficial tournaments were held during the Games: a Demonstration tournament and an Exhibition tournament.
Since the 1968 Summer Olympics did not feature tennis as an official sport, two unofficial tournaments were held during the Games: a Demonstration tournament and an Exhibition tournament.
Since the 1968 Summer Olympics did not feature tennis as an official sport, two unofficial tournaments were held during the Games: a Demonstration tournament and an Exhibition tournament.
Since the 1968 Summer Olympics did not feature tennis as an official sport, two unofficial tournaments were held during the Games: a Demonstration tournament and an Exhibition tournament.
Since the 1968 Summer Olympics did not feature tennis as an official sport, two unofficial tournaments were held during the Games: a Demonstration tournament and an Exhibition tournament.
Since the 1968 Summer Olympics did not feature tennis as an official sport, two unofficial tournaments were held during the Games: a Demonstration tournament and an Exhibition tournament.
Since the 1968 Summer Olympics did not feature tennis as an official sport, two unofficial tournaments were held during the Games: a Demonstration tournament and an Exhibition tournament.
Since the 1968 Summer Olympics did not feature tennis as an official sport, two unofficial tournaments were held during the Games: a Demonstration tournament and an Exhibition tournament.
After a lapse of more than four decades, tennis was reintroduced to Olympic Games spectators as one of two demonstration sports. Forty-six competitors from fifteen nations displayed their skill in singles and doubles matches on courts in the capital and in Guadalajara, and the tournament was received with enthusiasm by both players and fans.
For the demonstration sports—fronton and tennis—the following installations were employed. In Mexico City: Frontón México, fronton and tennis courts of the Chapultepec Sports Center, fronton courts of the Asturian Sports Center, the Lebanese Sports Center and the Frontón Metropolitano. In other cities: fronton courts of the Acapulco Jai-Alai; and the tennis courts of the Guadalajara Country Club, the Atlas Sports Club and the Guadalajara Sports Club, all in the city of Guadalajara