No one can compete with Steffi Graf's golden moment
— -- What's in store for the tennis Olympians this season? We don't know yet, but if they do anything to match any of these top 10 moments from Olympics yore, we'll be in for a treat.
1. Steffi Graf's Golden Slam
When she arrived at the 1988 Seoul Games, Graf, a teenager from West Germany, didn't expect much from herself. She was still feeling weary from her triumph at the US Open, where she had completed the calendar-year Grand Slam. But Graf became inspired by other Olympians and would come through the draw to win the singles competition.
In doing so, she became the first man or woman to achieve the Golden Slam of scoring four majors and the Olympic singles title in the same season. "To me, this was bigger than a Grand Slam; it was more special," she told CNN at the time.
2. Andy Murray's golden performance in front of home fans
All of Murray's eventual Grand Slam triumphs can be traced back to his win against Roger Federer in the 2012 Olympic final in London. On the grass of the All England Club, Murray was showing himself -- and others, too -- how he could beat the best in the world by playing positive, attacking tennis. Murray defeated Novak Djokovic in the semifinal and then Federer in the gold medal match -- in straight sets. At one point, Federer failed to win a game for an entire hour.
3. Roger Federer and Juan Martin del Potro's epic encounter
Did Federer have an excuse in the final against Murray? Perhaps when you consider the match before. Federer needed nearly three hours in the third set alone to beat del Potro, 19-17. In all, the Swiss was on the court for 4½ hours in the semifinals before putting away the Argentine, the longest men's three-set match of the Open era.
"I definitely got a sense that it was something special," Federer told the press at the time. His victory guaranteed he would win a first Olympic singles medal (after winning a doubles gold with Stan Wawrinka in Beijing).
4. Serena Williams crushes Maria Sharapova in the final
Has anyone ever won an Olympic silver medal and felt so far away from glory? The women's singles 2012 London final was 45 minutes old before Sharapova won a game. She would lose 6-0, 6-1 in the most one-sided women's final ever played at an Olympics. Williams was steadfast in her quest to win singles and complete the career Golden Slam.
5. Nicolas Massu wins double gold
To win two gold medals, you might have to contend with sleep deprivation. Take Massu, for example, at the 2004 Athens Games, with the Chilean winning the first of his medals alongside Fernando Gonzalez in the doubles. That match finished so late that Massu didn't get to sleep until 4.30 a.m.
Just 13 hours later, he started his singles gold medal match against Mardy Fish of the United States. Somehow, Massu got through it. "I don't know how I did it," he told the press afterward. "These are just the best two days of my life. It's just too much, two gold medals in one day, and it's unbelievable for my country."
6. James Blake's fury at Fernando Gonzalez
Playing in the semifinals of the 2008 Beijing Games, Blake was sure one of his shots had brushed Gonzalez's racket before being called out. Blake was also certain that Gonzalez, who would win the match, should have admitted as much.
"Playing in the Olympics, in what's supposed to be considered a gentleman's sport, that's a time to call it on yourself," Blake told the press afterward. "Fernando looked me square in the eye and didn't call it. If that happened the other way, I never would have finished the match, because my father would have pulled me off the court if I had acted that way. That's a disappointing way to exit the tournament when you not only lose the match, but you lose a little faith in your fellow competitor."
7. Andre Agassi's Olympic swearing
There was a touching moment at the 1996 Atlanta Games when two generations of Olympians in the Agassi family, Andre, who had three Grand Slam titles at the time, and his father Mike, who boxed for Iran, embraced on the court. But Agassi's run to the Olympic gold medal, which culminated with victory over Spain's Sergi Bruguera, is often remembered for the coarse language he used during his quarterfinal against South Africa's Wayne Ferreira.
Agassi was given a point penalty for cussing and swearing (in breach of the rules and perhaps also the Olympic spirit), but Ferreira, who served for the match, thought that the Las Vegan should have had the greater punishment of being defaulted. "That was about the only way he would have beaten me," Agassi told the press afterward. "He said I should have been thrown out, and if I was him, I would have hoped for that, too."
8. Jamie Murray bolts off the court
Players often speak of leaving everything on the court, and Murray did just that (literally) when playing a second-round doubles match at the 2008 Beijing Games alongside his younger brother, Andy. After a disappointing performance by the brothers, Jamie left the court at such speed that he didn't take his rackets or bag with him.
It was a hugely disappointing Olympics for Andy, who had also lost in the first round of the singles competition. Later, he spoke of his "unprofessional" preparation, which included arriving late and not giving himself enough days to assimilate, as well as poor diet.
9. Roger Federer kisses his future wife for the first time
It was at the 2000 Sydney Olympics that Federer started a romance with Mirka Vavrinec, who was part of the Swiss Olympic team herself. Vavrinec had been wondering why Federer was spending so much with her. And then he kissed her. They married nine years later and have had two sets of twins.
10. Rafael Nadal's off-court imperfections
Bradley Wiggins, a British cyclist, spotted Nadal in a laundry room in the Athletes' Village in Beijing and was a little concerned: "I didn't want to bother [Nadal,] but he was mixing up his whites and colors."
Still, his washing foibles aside, Nadal went on to win the singles gold medal. He is the only man -- with Agassi being the other -- to have won all four Grand Slams, the Davis Cup and the Olympic singles gold medal.
