Tennis at the 2004 Summer Olympics – Men's singles

2004 Olympic tennis tournament

Chile's Nicolás Massú defeated the United States' Mardy Fish in the final, 6–3, 3–6, 2–6, 6–3, 6–4 to win the gold medal in Men's Singles tennis at the 2004 Summer Olympics. In the bronze medal match, Chile's Fernando González defeated the United States' Taylor Dent, 6–4, 2–6, 16–14. Massú became the only man to win both the singles and men's doubles gold medals at the same Olympic Games. The two medals were Chile's first in men's singles, and Massú's gold plus the Chileans' doubles gold remain the only two gold medals for Chile at the Olympics. The tournament was held at the Olympic Tennis Centre in Athens, Greece. There were 64 players from 32 nations. The limit on players per nation had been four since the 2000 Games. Only the final match was best of five sets; all others were best of three sets. Yevgeny Kafelnikov was the reigning gold medalist from 2000, but he retired from the sport in 2003. Switzerland's Roger Federer was the world No. 1, but he lost to world No. 74 Tomáš Berdych of the Czech Republic in the second round.

The men's singles tournament of the 2004 Summer Olympics was held at the Athens Olympic Tennis Centre in Athens, Greece from 15 to 22 August 2004. The 2004 tournament was the 12th official medal event in men's singles. Five of the eight quarterfinalists from the 2000 tournament returned: silver medalist Tommy Haas of Germany, fourth place finisher Roger Federer of Switzerland, and three men eliminated in the quarterfinals: Max Mirnyi of Belarus, Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain, and Gustavo Kuerten of Brazil. Algeria, Chinese Taipei, and Cyprus each made their debut in the event. France made its 11th appearance, most among all nations, having missed only the 1904 event.

Qualification for the single tournament was restricted to four players per National Olympic Committee (NOC), an organisation representing a country at the Olympics. National Tennis Associations who were members of the ITF before 1 January 2004 were allowed to nominate players for entry into the competition. The tournament featured a total of 64 players with 48 qualifying on their ITF World Ranking on 14 June and two received invitations from the Tripartite Commission. Any NOC who had more than four players able to qualify by this method were encouraged to choose their highest ranked players eligible to compete in the tournament. The remaining 14 qualified via wild card places: eight were selected on their world ranking and the remaining six were chosen on the basis of his world ranking, whether his country has representation in tennis, the number of players who were in Athens and his geographical location. Players who earned automatic entry into the draw and who withdrew from the competition due to illness, injury or bereavement before midnight on 7 August were replaced by one from his own country or the next highest ranking entry. Had this not been the case, then the ITF selected the highest ranked nominated player or eligible competitor if a country had more than four players to the tournament. Martin Verkerk, the 2003 French Open runner up, sustained a chest muscle injury that required him to withdraw from the tournament. Verkerk was replaced in the draw by Wayne Arthurs. World number three Guillermo Coria had a right shoulder tendinitis injury that made it sore and withdrew from the competition with his place taken by world number 40 Mariano Zabaleta. World number five and 2004 French Open champion Gastón Gaudio aggravated a post traumatic right heel injury and right shoulder pain playing in the 2004 Cincinnati Masters and became the second Argentine to withdraw from the competition. His compatriot and world number 50 Agustín Calleri replaced him. David Nalbandian, the 2002 Wimbledon runner up, withdrew with a strained left thigh and he was the third Argentine player to leave the event. Frédéric Niemeyer replaced him in the draw. A right wrist injury caused Irakli Labadze to withdraw from the tournament and Vladimir Voltchkov, a 2000 Wimbledon semi finalist, replaced him. Federer was considered by the press as the strong favourite before the tournament. Henman, who had played in two previous Olympic Games, commented on his chances of victory, "Federer goes into the event favourite, there's no doubt about that. And [Andy] Roddick will fancy his chances on a hard court. But I've beaten both of them this year so, if I can stay healthy and execute my intended game plan, then there's a chance for me too. I'd be lying if I said I haven't dreamed of winning the gold medal." Roddick used his pre tournament press conference to state that he wanted to medal at the Olympics and was concerned about his opponent in the first round.

The tournament was a single elimination competition with a bronze medal match. The competition was played on hard courts as the best of three sets in every match until the gold medal game, which was held to the best of five sets.

The draw for the first round of the championship was made on 12 August in Building H of the Athens 2004 Conference Room at ATHOC Headquarters. The first round of the competition, in which 64 players participated, took place from 15 to 16 August. Henman, a silver medallist in the 1996 Olympic doubles event, was the highest placed seed to lose in the first round when he lost to world number 27 Jiří Novák 6–3, 6–3 due to an inconsistent and error prone play in a 68 minute match that took place in blustery weather. Marat Safin, a seeded player regarded as one who was in danger of elimination, won the first set of his match against Karol Kučera within 20 minutes. After Kučera played less cautiously in the second set, a break in the fifth game saw Safin claim a 6–0, 6–4 victory. Moyá, the 1998 French Open champion, took almost three hours and a total of five match points in the final two sets of his game against Thomas Enqvist to win 7–6, 6–7, 9–7. Paradorn Srichaphan, the 12th seed, was upset by Joachim Johansson in a 6–3, 6–3 straight sets defeat, and another upset victory occurred when the 13th seed Andrei Pavel lost to Ivo Karlović. Federer took 1¾ hours to defeat Nikolay Davydenko 6–3, 5–7, 6–1. He received an official warning for ball abuse when he struck the ball onto the roof of the centre court in frustration over his play in the second set.

The second round occurred on 17 August. Unseeded player and world number 49 Mardy Fish came from one set and a break point behind to claim a 4–6, 7–6 (7 5), 6–4 victory over former world number one Juan Carlos Ferrero. Fish said of his win, "There were a lot of Spanish people out there cheering for him. So whoever was cheering for me, I was pointing at them." Roddick made 17 aces, 30 winners and 57 unforced errors in coming back from two match points behind and defeating the 2000 silver medallist Tommy Haas 6–4, 3–6, 9–7 in a 2 hour and 19 minute match. Federer was the highest ranked player to lose in the second round when world number 74 Tomáš Berdych beat him 4–6, 7–5, 7–5 due to a poor serve and a series of unforced errors. Berdych said of the victory, "It was everything. This guy won Wimbledon and the Australian Open and now you are the player who beats him. Unbelievable."