TBT: London 2012 Olympics
The 2012 Olympics was held in London and played on grass for the first time since the return of tennis as an Olympic sport.
Britain’s No.1 Andy Murray joined the then-three-time gold medalist Venus Williams to pass on the Olympic torch.
The competition was held at the All England Club, where the Wimbledon Championships had been held just weeks earlier – except this time the venue looked decidedly more colorful.
Although as much as venue changed, the rainy London weather stayed the same, washing out the second day of play.
Also, regular tennis fans William and Kate, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, were in attendance as well to cheer on the Brits.
Heather Watson was Britain’s No.1 at the time, and she was joined in the draw by Laura Robson, Anne Keothavong and the late Elena Baltacha.
With the All England Club’s strict all-white dress code broken for the first time ever, players got creative and colorful with their national team attire (and their hair, like Venus Williams here).
United States’ Serena Williams, the eventual champion, was the No.4 seed.
Serena defeated Russia’s Maria Sharapova in the final to claim the gold medal, while Belarus’ Victoria Azarenka won bronze.
Although she was already a three-time gold medalist in doubles, London 2012 was where Serena earned her first singles gold medal on this day four years ago.
Azarenka also won her first gold medal in the mixed doubles competition, which returned to the Olympics for the first time since 1924.
Serena came back to Centre Court the next day and joined Venus for doubles, where they defeated Czech Republic’s Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka for the gold medal, while Russia’s Maria Kirilenko and Nadia Petrova won bronze.
