It has been more than one hundred years since Athens hosted the first Contemporary Olympiad, in accordance with the wish of Pierre de Coubertin who founded the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 1894.  Pierre de Coubertin believed that the new Olympic Games would offer a stage for the friendly sports contest in which all differences of religion, status, race and politics would vanish into the air. A century later, the principles suggested by de Coubertin are still live - the Olympic Games provided an exclusive opportunity for the best tennis players to represent their nations amongst competitors from other sports.

It is noteworthy that tennis at the Olympic Games was introduced at the inaugural ceremony of the Games in 1896 in Athens alongside with the other eight original Olympic sports. John Boland from Ireland defeated Greece's Dionysios Kasdaglis and became the first of the tennis Olympic medals winners, whilst four years afterward Charlotte Cooper became the first female tennis player ever to be awarded an Olympic medal. This event commemorated the beginning of women competitions at the Games. Tennis at the Olympic Games continued to be contested until 1924, with Suzanne Lenglen, Helen Wills and Laurie Doherty among the most notable champions.

Tennins Olympic events were withdrawn from the Games following the 1924 Games, but went back to the Olympic schedule as a demonstration event for 21-and-under players in 1984. This happened after the campaign by the then President of the International Tennis Federation (ITF) Philippe Chatrier, ITF's Vice President Pablo Llorens, and ITF's General Secretary David Gray as well as enormous support from the President of the International Olympic Committee Juan Antonio Samaranch. The success of the newly introduced tennis games at the Olympic Games was overwhelming and the board of IOC made a decision to reintroduce the sport as a full medal event at 1988 Games in Seoul.

Since the reintroduction of tennis at the Olympic Games, the event has grown in popularity. In 2000, in Sydney the event had seen a record involvement of the top-ranked players and attracted enormous crowds for each game.

A lot of the biggest names in the tennis sports have won Olympic medals at the Games, including 2000 single champions Yevgeny Kafelnikov, Venus Williams, Lindsay Davenport, Serena Williams, Andre Agassi, Stefan Edberg, Boris Becker, Goran Ivanisevic, Gabriela Sabatini, Steffi Graf, and Arantxa Sanchez Vicario.

Wheelchair tennis at the Olympic Games was brought in as a demonstration sport at the 1988 Paralympic Games and obtained the status of the full medal event in 1992 Barcelona. Until now, it has been one of the premier profile disciplines at the Paralympic Games. The best players from around the globe compete there.

Medals won at tennis Olympic events since 1988 Games:
1. The United States of America - 14 (9 Gold, 1 Silver, 4 Bronze);
2. Chile - 3 (2 Gold, 1 Bronze);
3. Germany - 5 (1 Gold, 3 Silver, 1 Bronze).