The 3 men with a 100% win rate at the Olympics as Alexander Zverev’s unbeaten streak ends

Ewan West 02 Aug 2024 1:15 PM

Andre Agassi and Alexander Zverev are both Olympic gold medallists

Alexander Zverev held a 9-0 record at the Olympics before his quarter-final defeat to Lorenzo Musetti at the Paris Games ended his unbeaten streak.

The 27-year-old German won six matches to claim the gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 and added three more victories during his title defence in Paris. The world No 4 fell 5-7, 5-7 to Italy’s Musetti in the last eight.

With Zverev’s loss, there are now only three players with an unbeaten record in the Olympic men’s singles event since tennis returned as an official sport at the Games in 1988 (with a minimum of five matches played and one completed tournament).

Miroslav Mecir – 6-0 (1988)

At the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, tennis was reintroduced to the Games as a medal event after a 64-year absence, having been held as a demonstration sport in 1968 and 1984. The event was played on hard courts at the Seoul Olympic Park Tennis Centre.

Miroslav Mecir, who was the No 3 seed, earned four-set victories over Eric Jelen and Jeremy Bates in the first two rounds and a straight-set win against Guy Forget in the third round, before beating Michiel Schapers in a four-set quarter-final.

The Czech then came from two sets to one down to defeat No 1 seed and tennis great Stefan Edberg in five sets in the semi-finals.

In the gold medal match, Mecir downed American Tim Mayotte, the second seed, in four sets to become the first Olympic men’s singles tennis champion of the Open Era. Mecir retired two years later and did not make another appearance at the Olympics.

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Andre Agassi – 6-0 (1996)

Andre Agassi competed at his first and last Olympics at the 1996 Games in Atlanta having decided to skip the 1988 and 1992 editions.

The tournament was staged on hard courts at the Stone Mountain Tennis Centre in Atlanta and the format for the men’s singles event was best-of-three sets up until a best-of-five gold medal match.

Agassi collected straight-set wins against Jonas Bjorkman and Karol Kucera in the opening two rounds and added three-set triumphs over Andrea Gaudenzi and Wayne Ferreira in the third round and quarter-finals respectively.

The American, who was the No 1 seed, saw off Leander Paes in straight sets in the semi-finals before he crushed unseeded Spaniard Sergi Bruguera 6-2, 6-3, 6-1 in the gold medal match.

Agassi did not defend his title in 2000 and also missed the 2004 Games before calling time on his career in 2006, so he retired undefeated at the Olympics.

Yevgeny Kafelnikov – 6-0 (2000)

Yevgeny Kafelnikov began his professional career in 1992 and skipped the 1996 Olympics before he made his Games debut in Sydney in 2000.

The event was held on hard courts at the Sydney Olympic Park Tennis Centre, with a best-of-three set format used for men’s singles until a best-of-five gold medal match.

The Russian, who was the No 5 seed, reached the gold medal match without dropping a set in victories over Juan Antonio Marin, Juan Ignacio Chela, Mark Philippoussis, Gustavo Kuerten and Arnaud Di Pasquale.

Kafelnikov overcame unseeded German Tommy Haas in five sets in the gold medal match to claim Russia’s first men’s singles medal in tennis as an independent nation. He did not play the Olympics again as he retired in 2003.