# Tennis at the 1896 Summer Olympics – Men's singles

The men's singles was one of two tennis events on the Tennis at the 1896 Summer Olympics programme. The fifteen entrants were seeded into a single-elimination tournament, with thirteen competing. They represented six nations.

## Background

This was the first appearance of the men's singles tennis. The event has been held at every Summer Olympics where tennis has been on the program: from 1896 to 1924 and then from 1988 to the current program. Demonstration events were held in 1968 and 1984.
None of the leading players of the time, such as Wimbledon champion Harold Mahony, U.S champion Robert Wrenn, William Larned or Wilfred Baddeley, participated.

## Competition format

Under ancient Greek single-elimination tournament rules, there were no brackets as under modern single-elimination rules; instead, all participants in a round were paired off with one bye if a round had an odd number of participants left. This format could result in a semifinals round with only three competitors, as happened in both the 1896 wrestling and doubles tennis events, which started with five wrestlers/pairs: the first round had two matches, with one wrestler/pair having a bye, and the second round had only one match, with another wrestler/pair having a bye (a modern tournament would have had one match in the first round with three byes, leading to two semifinals).
The organizers avoided this problem in the singles tennis by dividing the players into four groups, with each group playing a single elimination tournament and the winner of each group advancing to the semifinals.
No bronze medal match was held; both semifinal losers are now considered bronze medal winners (the current medal system was not used at the time).

## Schedule

| Date | Date | Time | Round |
| Gregorian | Julian | Time | Round |
| Wednesday, 8 April 1896 | Wednesday, 27 March 1896 | | Round 1 |
| Thursday, 9 April 1896 | Thursday, 28 March 1896 | | Round 1 continued Quarterfinals |
| Friday, 10 April 1896 | Friday, 29 March 1896 | | Quarterfinals continued Semifinals |
| Saturday, 11 April 1896 | Saturday, 30 March 1896 | 14:00 | Final |

## Draw
### Key

* Q = Qualifier
* WC = Wild card
* LL = Lucky loser
* Alt = Alternate
* SE = Special exempt
* PR = Protected ranking
* ITF = ITF entry
* JE = Junior exempt
* w/o = Walkover
* r = Retired
* d = Defaulted
* SR = Special ranking

### Finals

The International Society of Olympic Historians gives only thirteen players. According to them, Frank and George Marshall did not participate.
| First round | First round | First round | First round | Quarter-finals | Semi-finals | Final | Final | Final | Final |
| K Akratopoulos (GRE) | | | | | |
| Bye | | | | | |
| Bye | | | | K Akratopoulos (GRE) | |
| | | | | D Kasdaglis (GRE) | |
| Dionysios Kasdaglis (GRE) | | | | D Kasdaglis (GRE) | |
| Rene Defert (FRA) | | | | | |
| Rene Defert (FRA) | | | | | D Kasdaglis (GRE) |
| | | | | | M Tapavica (HUN) |
| Momčilo Tapavica (HUN) | | | | | M Tapavica (HUN) |
| Dimitris Frangopoulos (GRE) | | | | | |
| Dimitris Frangopoulos (GRE) | | | | M Tapavica (HUN) | |
| | | | | Bye | |
| George Marshall (GBR) | — | — | — | Bye | |
| Frank Marshall (GBR) | — | — | — | | | | | | |
| Frank Marshall (GBR) | — | — | — | | | D Kasdaglis (GRE) | D Kasdaglis (GRE) | 3 | 1 |
| | | | | | | JP Boland (GBR) | JP Boland (GBR) | 6 | 6 |
| Evangelos Rallis (GRE) | | | | | | JP Boland (GBR) | JP Boland (GBR) | 6 | 6 |
| Demetrios Petrokokkinos (GRE) | | | | | | | | | |
| Demetrios Petrokokkinos (GRE) | | | | E Rallis (GRE) | | | | | |
| | | | | JP Boland (GBR) | | | | | |
| John Boland (GBR) | 6 | 2 | 6 | JP Boland (GBR) | | | | | |
| Friedrich Traun (GER) | 0 | 6 | 2 | | | | | | |
| Friedrich Traun (GER) | 0 | 6 | 2 | | JP Boland (GBR) | | | | |
| | | | | | K Paspatis (GRE) |
| Konstantinos Paspatis (GRE) | | | | | K Paspatis (GRE) |
| George Robertson (GBR) | | | | | |
| George Robertson (GBR) | | | | K Paspatis (GRE) | |
| | | | | A Akratopoulos (GRE) | |
| Aristidis Akratopoulos (GRE) | | | | A Akratopoulos (GRE) | |
| Edwin Flack (AUS) | | | | | |

## Results summary

| Rank | Player | Nation | Round of 16 | Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Final |
| | John Pius Boland | Great Britain | Traun (GER) W 6–0, 2–6, 6–2 | Rallis (GRE) W | Paspatis (GRE) W | Kasdaglis (GRE) W 6–3, 6–1 |
| | Dionysios Kasdaglis | Greece | Defert (FRA) W | K Akratopoulos (GRE) W | Tapavica (HUN) W | Boland (GBR) L 6–3, 6–1 |
| | Konstantinos Paspatis | Greece | Robertson (GBR) W | A Akratopoulos (GRE) W | Boland (GBR) L | Did not advance |
| | Momčilo Tapavica | Hungary | Frangopoulos (GRE) W | G Marshall (GBR) W | Kasdaglis (GRE) L | Did not advance |
| 5 | Aristidis Akratopoulos | Greece | Flack (AUS) W | Paspatis (GRE) L | did not advance | did not advance |
| 5 | Konstantinos Akratopoulos | Greece | Bye | Kasdaglis (GRE) L | did not advance | did not advance |
| 5 | Evangelos Rallis | Greece | Petrokokkinos (GRE) W | Boland (GBR) L | did not advance | did not advance |
| 8 | J. Defert | France | Kasdaglis (GRE) L | did not advance | did not advance | did not advance |
| 8 | Edwin Flack | Australia | A Akratopoulos (GRE) L | did not advance | did not advance | did not advance |
| 8 | Dimitris Frangopoulos | Greece | Tapavica (HUN) L | did not advance | did not advance | did not advance |
| 8 | George S. Robertson | Great Britain | Paspatis (GRE) L | did not advance | did not advance | did not advance |
| 8 | Friedrich Traun | Germany | Boland (GBR) L 6–0, 2–6, 6–2 | did not advance | did not advance | did not advance |
| 8 | Demetrios Petrokokkinos | Greece | Rallis (GRE) L | did not advance | did not advance | did not advance |
| — | Frank Marshall | Great Britain | G Marshall (GBR) L DNS | did not advance | did not advance | did not advance |
| — | George Marshall | Great Britain | F Marshall (GBR) L DNS | did not advance | did not advance | did not advance |