The tournament was held at the Tennis de la Vall d'Hebron in Barcelona, Spain. There were 64 players from 35 nations.[1] Nations had been limited to three players each since tennis returned to the Olympic program in 1988.
Miloslav Mečíř of Czechoslovakia was the reigning gold medalist from 1988, but he retired from the sport in 1990.
Background
This was the ninth (medal) appearance of the men's singles tennis event. 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.
The Bahamas, Croatia, Indonesia, Morocco, Peru, and Puerto Rico each made their debut in the event. Some former Soviet republics competed as the Unified Team. One Yugoslav player competed as an Independent Olympic Participant. France made its eighth appearance, most among all nations, having missed only the 1904 event.
Competition format
The competition was a single-elimination tournament. No bronze medal match was held. All matches were best-of-five sets. The 12-point tie-breaker was used in any set, except the fifth, that reached 6–6.