Australian Team Profile
Athens bronze medal winner Alicia Molik is back on court in Beijing and desperate to reignite her tennis career with Olympic gold.
Molik said it had always been her childhood dream to compete at the Olympic Games and will celebrate her third appearance for Australia in China.
She made her Games debut as a teenager in Sydney and was third in 2004.
Molik's bronze was Australia's first Olympic singles medal while the last gold in tennis was scored by the famous doubles pairing of Mark Woodforde and Todd Woodbridge.
Tennis has provided Australia with one Olympic gold, one silver and four bronze medals.
In 2004, Wayne Arthurs and Mark Philippoussis played in the men's singles. Todd Woodbridge and Arthurs teamed up for the doubles but were eliminated in the round of 16.
Nicole Pratt, Samantha Stosur and Molik played in the women's singles in Athens. Pratt and Stosur made up one women's doubles outfit while Molik and Rennae Stubbs formed the second team.
The charge for success this year will be spearheaded by Molik and Australia's top-ranked male player Lleyton Hewitt, provided Hewitt is fit after battling hip problems in recent months.
Molik was handed a wildcard into this year's Games while impressive Queenslander Stosur has racked up valuable ranking points to earn her second shot at the Olympics.
The sport appeared on the Olympic program in Athens in 1896 and remained until Paris 1924.
Due to difficulties in solving the amateur-professional divide, the sport disappeared until Seoul 1988 having been a demonstration sport in 1984 (Los Angeles).
The biggest names in the game now appear at the Games with recent gold medal winners including Andre Agassi (1996), Yevgeny Kafelnikov (2000), Lindsay Davenport (1996) and Venus Williams (2000).
Australian Olympic Tennis Team
Men:
Chris Guccione - Doubles
Paul Hanley - Doubles
Lleyton Hewitt - Singles, Doubles
Jordan Kerr - Doubles
Women:
Casey Dellacqua - Singles, Doubles
Alicia Molik - Singles, Doubles
Samantha Stosur - Singles, Doubles
Rennae Stubbs - Doubles
Previous Australian Medallists:
Gold:
Mark Woodforde, Todd Woodbridge (1996) - Men's Doubles
Silver:
Mark Woodforde, Todd Woodbridge (2000) - Men's Doubles
Bronze:
Liz Smylie, Wendy Turnbull (1988) - Women's Doubles
Rachel McQuillan, Nicole Provis (1992) - Women's Doubles
Alicia Molik (2004) - Women's Singles