Since the 1968 Summer Olympics did not feature tennis as an official sport, two unofficial tournaments were held during the Games: a Demonstration tournament and an Exhibition tournament.[1]
| Demonstration mixed doubles | |
|---|---|
| Tennis at the 1968 Summer Olympics | |
| Champions |  Julie Heldman Herb Fitzgibbon |
| Runners-up |  Helga Niessen Jürgen Fassbender |
| Score | 6–1, 6–3 |
The Demonstration tournament was played from 14 to 20 October 1968 at three venues in Guadalajara, Mexico: Guadalajara Country Club, Atlas Sports Club and Guadalajara Sports Club; all of them featured clay courts.[2] All matches were played at best-of-five sets; since the tiebreak rule wasn't implemented until the 1970s, a team had to win a set by a two-game margin in case of a 6–6 draw.
Americans Julie Heldman and Herb Fitzgibbon won the tournament by defeating West Germans Helga Niessen and Jürgen Fassbender 6–1, 6–3 in the final. Peaches Bartkowicz and Jim Osborne, also Americans, won the third place.
Seeds
editThe top two seeds received a bye into quarterfinals.
Valerie Ziegenfuss (USA) / Jim McManus (USA) (quarterfinals)
Lourdes Gongora (MEX) / Vicente Zarazúa (MEX) (quarterfinals)
Edda Buding (FRG) / Ingo Buding (FRG) (quarterfinals)
Rosa María Darmon (FRA) / Pierre Darmon (FRA) (semifinals, fourth place)
Draw
edit
Bronze-medal match
| Bronze-medal match | ||||||
| 4 |  RM Darmon (FRA) P Darmon (FRA)
| 4 | 5 | |||
 P Bartkowicz (USA) J Osborne (USA)
| 6 | 7 | ||||
References
edit- ^ "Mexico 68, Vol. 3: The Games" (PDF). Organizing Committee of the Games of the XIX Olympiad. 1969. pp. 74 (491). Retrieved 15 April 2017.
After a lapse of more than four decades, tennis was reintroduced to Olympic Games spectators as one of two demonstration sports. Forty-six competitors from fifteen nations displayed their skill in singles and doubles matches on courts in the capital and in Guadalajara, and the tournament was received with enthusiasm by both players and fans.
- ^ "Mexico 68, Vol. 2: The Organization" (PDF). Organizing Committee of the Games of the XIX Olympiad. 1969. pp. 78 (79). Retrieved 15 April 2017.
For the demonstration sports—fronton and tennis—the following installations were employed. In Mexico City: Frontón México, fronton and tennis courts of the Chapultepec Sports Center, fronton courts of the Asturian Sports Center, the Lebanese Sports Center and the Frontón Metropolitano. In other cities: fronton courts of the Acapulco Jai-Alai; and the tennis courts of the Guadalajara Country Club, the Atlas Sports Club and the Guadalajara Sports Club, all in the city of Guadalajara