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At the same time, tennis has become one of the most important events in the Olympic Games. From the International Tennis Federation: "Tennis was one of the original nine Olympic sports at Athens , with John Boland becoming the first Olympic tennis gold medallist. The sport continued to be staged at the Games until , with Laurie Doherty, Suzanne Lenglen and Helen Wills among the most notable champions.
The sport returned as a full medal event at Seoul in after a and-under demonstration event in Los Angeles in Tennis at the Olympics has gone from strength to strength ever since. At London , played on the grass courts of Wimbledon, the competition attracted record participation by the top players and drew capacity crowds for every session. The singles gold medals were won by Andy Murray and Serena Williams, who will both look to be the first players to successfully defend an Olympic singles title in Rio.
The quality of tennis was indeed spectacular. Serena Williams capped a dominating tournament by earning the career Golden Slam with a , singles victory over Maria Sharapova. Also, the mixed doubles returned to the games after an eighty-eight year absence. The sixth Paralympic wheelchair tennis event took place from September at Eton Manor in Olympic Park, with athletes from 31 countries competing.
The 29 th Olympic Games in were held in Beijing and were quite a spectacle. Venus and Serena Williams of the United States won their second gold medal in doubles. The Olympic Games returned to its origins in , and the tennis competition was played at the newly built Olympic Tennis Centre in Athens. Chilean Nicolas Massu won the first gold medal for his country when he won the singles title.
