Tennis has been part of the Summer Olympic Games program since the birth of the modern Olympic movement at the Games of the I Olympiad in 1896. It was then excluded from the Games of the IX Olympiad in 1928 to return to the Games of the XIX Olympiad in Mexico City of 1968, but only as an exhibition tournament.

With the 1988 Seoul Games, tennis returned to being officially an Olympic sport, from Beijing 2008 the tournament became part of the official ATP and WTA calendar, equated in the first case to an ATP Masters Series/ATP World Tour Masters level tournament 1000 and in the latter to a Tier I/Premier. 64 singles players and 32 doubles pairs take part.

As for the tournament formula, in the first edition only the men's singles and doubles tournaments were played, starting from Paris 1900 the same tournaments were introduced at the women's level and the mixed doubles tournament. In 1904 there was a return to men's tournaments only, four years later indoor medals were also awarded for both sexes with the exception of women's doubles to which in 1912 was added the return of mixed doubles also indoors.

In 1920 and 1924 the program found some stability with the awarding of medals in men's, women's and mixed doubles and singles with the elimination of indoor tournaments. The same formula was used when tennis returned to the Olympic program in 1968, even if only as a demonstration sport, sixteen years later only both men's and women's singles matches were played.

With the return to the official program in 1988, the formula was similar to that of the 1920s, with the exception of the absence of the mixed doubles tournament, which was reinstated in London 2012. With the exception of the editions of 1896, 1900, 1904, 1988, and 1992, when the bronze medal was awarded to all defeated semi-finalists, on all other occasions a final for the bronze was always foreseen.