The olympics kick off in roundabout 8 days and with that, the olympic tennis event. The ladies will battle it our for gold, silver and bronze, pretty much as they did at the past olympics, which wasn't always the cause.
In 1988 Tennis regained the olympic status as an amateur sports and so the ladies (and gentlemen of course) were able to compete again. In 1984 - for those of you who wonder - tennis was also part of the games but no medals were given away.
The 1988 games will be remembered as the only golden slam ever achieved in tennis history, as Steffi Graf not only managed to win all four slams, but she also took home the gold medal in Seoul.
Here's a look at the top seed ladies and the biggest upsets:
1. Steffi Graf (GER) - ended up winning gold
2. Chris Evert (USA) - fell round of last 16 to Raffaella Reggi (ITA)
3. Gabriela Sabatini (ARG) - eventual silver medalist
4. Pam Shriver (USA) - struggled in all round, esp. round of last 16 against Katerina Maleeva and lost to 8th seed Zina Garrison in QF
5. Helena Sukova (TCH) - early round victim to unknown korean player
6. Natasha Zvereva (URS) - lost to Sabatini in QF
7. Manuela Maleeva (BUL) - knocked out surprise Quarterfinalist Raffaella Reggi to reach semis and win the bronze medal
8. Zina Garrison (USA) - knocked out Countrywoman Shriver to reach the semis and win the only medal for the states in singles competition (expectations were on Shriver and Evert). Lost in the semis to Graf.
Steffi Graf won the final 6:3 6:3 against Gabriela Sabatini and took home the gold medal. It's been the only gold medal for Graf at olympic-events.
Other names in the draw that became more important in the near future were players such as Jana Novotna, Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario or Nathalie Tauziat. All of them lost too early to really have a medal-chance.
Let me follow your thoughts on these "retro"-olympics ;-)
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