Is There Love in This Sport for Olympics?

If it’s tennis, it has to be contentious.

Tennis was a medal sport in the first Olympics in Athens, the event held on a red clay court constructed on the infield of the cycling velodrome. Tennis was always there when the Olympics were held, sometimes being played on indoor, hardwood courts.

But tennis can be a fastidious and prideful game. The 1924 Olympics in Paris severed tennis’ Olympic relationship because of inadequate facilities--the female players were provided a wooden hut in which to change. In addition to being an insult to the competitors, the hut’s door was inexplicably locked for the duration of the tennis competition.

Not content to be simply one of the lesser sports in the Olympic Games, tennis packed its rackets and bade farewell to the Olympic family after 1924. Tennis rejoined the fold in 1968, when it was a demonstration sport in Mexico City. It reclaimed full medal status in 1988 in Seoul.

The stale debate about tennis’ place in the Olympics burps up every four years, when noise is made about professionals in the Games. The overlooked fact is that tennis has, until recent times, always been on the Olympic program.

Philippe Chatrier, former president of the International Tennis Federation and a member of the International Olympic Committee, championed tennis’ return to the Olympics. There were wildly divergent opinions on the matter within the Olympic movement and the game.

The same is true today, even as tennis is now ensconced in the Games. Tennis players--individualists always--don’t all want to be in the Olympics or agree that tennis should be. Some argue tennis doesn’t need the Olympics, some say the truly amateur sports deserve the spotlight. Most have more selfish concerns: An overcrowded calendar is a major one.

Michael Stich of Germany, who will not be playing, notes the busy summer schedule and said he didn’t want to spend two months in the United States, playing in the Olympic tournament then the U.S. Open, which runs Aug. 26-Sept. 8. Davis Cup makes the schedule even more crowded.

“I don’t think that tennis really belongs in the Olympic Games, that’s my private opinion,” Stich said. “For tennis players, Wimbledon, U.S. Open, the French Open--these are much more important than the Olympic Games. Track and field athletes and swimmers train for four years to go to the Olympic Games and that’s the highlight of their careers. For tennis players, it’s not.

“It’s a great atmosphere, it’s a great thing to be at. I would rather be there in a different sport, or as a spectator, than participating in the Olympic tennis event. It was a great experience, but I’ve done that.”

Stich won the doubles in 1992 with Boris Becker, who shares Stich’s reverence for the Olympics, but not tennis’ place in them.

“For other sports, the Olympics is the pinnacle,” Becker said. “For tennis, I don’t think it is.”

Stich and Becker will not defend their doubles title, but Marc Rosset of Switzerland will defend his singles title from Barcelona, where all of the top five men participated. Not so this year. Including those who are taking a pass are Michael Chang and Thomas Muster. Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi will play singles for the United States.

“Unfortunately, there’s not a lot of guys playing it,” Sampras said of the Olympic tournament. “It would be nice to see a lot of the other top guys--pretty much myself and Andre are the the only two.”

The defending women’s singles gold medalist, Jennifer Capriati, will not have a chance to defend her title--she was not selected by the U.S. Tennis Assn. The defending champion doubles team will be present after Mary Joe Fernandez was added to the U.S. team Sunday so she could play with Gigi Fernandez.

Monica Seles, co-ranked No. 1, will be going to her first Olympics. She said that training with track athletes Jackie Joyner-Kersee and Gail Devers while she was preparing to come back to the tour helped her appreciate the Olympics and want to be included.

Lindsay Davenport, who will play singles and doubles in Atlanta, grew up in a household where the Olympics were always watched and discussed. Davenport’s father was a volleyball player in the 1968 Games and her entire family either competes in volleyball or is an official in it.

“I’ve always wanted to make it, it was like a dream [in 1992] to make it,” Davenport said. “My dad always told me about it. It’s always a part of him. You’re never going to be happier or prouder if you win a medal.”

Davenport said tennis should be in the Olympics, but tennis players need to cherish the experience more in order to deserve it.

“I believe it has a place,” she said. “I think some of the pros have to take it a lot more seriously. I really don’t understand people skipping it. If it’s about money, then that’s not right, because that’s not what the Olympics are about, what they ever have been about or what they ever should be about.

“It’s a shame. I think every player should want to go, not necessarily for the tennis, but for all the other sports, to see all the other athletes. We’re so sheltered at the tournaments, you only see the same people. It’s amazing to see what the other athletes go through.

“We obviously put in a lot of work, but I think, compared to some sports, they have to do so much more. To see what they go through--maybe gymnasts have waited their whole life for 30 seconds. To have it all fall apart or happen in that 30 seconds . . . to see the sprinters wait to run 10 seconds . . . it’s amazing. I can’t wait to go to Atlanta.”

Davenport is one of the few gung-ho tennis Olympians. Sampras, not one to plan too far ahead, isn’t thinking about the Olympics. Like many other players, Sampras is candid about where the Olympics rate.

“It’s not really at the top of my priority list right now, I haven’t given it a lot of thought,” Sampras said. “The U.S. Open is in the back of my mind, that’s where I really want to be playing my best tennis.

“Tennis in the Olympics--it’s not track and field. Tennis in the Olympics doesn’t quite have the history, doesn’t quite have it like Wimbledon or the U.S. Open does. It’s something I’m looking forward to, I mean, it’s not the U.S. Open. But it is in the United States and I feel like have an obligation to play, and I have a chance to win a gold medal. That’s why I’m doing it.”

The No. 1 woman in the world is an Olympic fan. Steffi Graf of Germany will play singles and doubles. Her first experience was in Los Angeles in 1984, when tennis was still a demonstration sport. She went on in 1988 to win a Golden Slam--all four Grand Slam tournaments and the Olympic gold medal.

Atlanta will be Graf’s fourth Olympics--she lost to Capriati in 1992--but the memories of 1984 still linger.

“I have never had so much fun being at the Olympics, even afterward,” she said. “I was 15. I had never really won anything, I was there by myself. It was a playground for me, seeing all the other athletes and seeing all the other events. Not being known, I could run around. I don’t know, every day I was up until 12 or 1 o’clock in the morning, I was going through the training camps and watching everything.

“I think it was very pure. I think that is probably how all the other athletes would feel if they only have a few events each year. As a tennis player, you have so many big events so you lose it a little bit. Those memories will probably always be my best.”