Serena Williams looks ready to repeat in Rio
Everything you need to know before the 1st serve flies over the net in Brazil
Here's a quick guide to what, when and who to watch in the women's tennis tournament at the Rio Olympics.
Serena's growing legacy
Fresh off tying Steffi Graf's Open Era record of Grand Slam wins (22) by winning her seventh Wimbledon title, Serena Williams will look to add to her impressive collection with a second Olympic singles gold medal.
The American also owns three doubles medals with her sister Venus, and the pair is once again favoured to win gold in that event after taking the Wimbledon doubles title in July.
However, the Williams sisters will need to repeat their feat(s) on a different surface than the 2012 Games in London. The grass courts of the All-England Lawn Tennis Club are replaced with Rio's hardcourts.
Bouchard leads Canadian contingent
While she was named to the Canadian Olympic team in late June, Eugenie Bouchard only confirmed she would be representing her country two weeks before the opening of the Games. The 41st-ranked women's player in the world had said she would wait until "the last minute" to decide whether she would accept the spot after expressing concerns about the Zika virus and safety in Rio.
The Westmount, Que., native is coming off a first-round exit at the Citi Open in Washington, and a third-round loss to an unseeded opponent at the Rogers Cup in Montreal that saw her take her frustrations out on her racquet.
However, with the withdrawal of Milos Raonic due to health concerns, including the Zika virus, Bouchard is the undoubted star of the Canadian tennis team in Brazil.
Joining Bouchard on the women's team, and in the doubles event, is Gabriela Dabrowski of Ottawa.
Long shots
With the 2012 silver and bronze medallists missing from Rio (Maria Sharapova is ineligible due to a doping ban and Victoria Azarenka is expecting her first child), that leaves Spain's Garbine Muguruza and Angelique Kerber of Germany as the top-ranked players looking to knock off the defending champ.
It's not like they haven't done it before. Kerber denied Williams her record-tying Grand Slam title in the Australian Open final while Muguruza stopped the American from the feat in the championship match at the French Open.
The format
Olympic medals are up for grabs in men's and women's singles, men's and women's doubles, and mixed doubles events.
The matches are single-elimination format and are played in best-of-three sets, each one with six games.
The match format is much like a Grand Slam tourney; the first to win six games wins the set, except if there is a 5-5 draw, in which case there are two other games. If there is another draw at 6-6, the set is decided in a tiebreak of seven points.
One variation in this format is the men's singles finals. That match is decided in a best-of-five sets format and the final set is played as a tiebreak, if necessary.
Key matches
The tournament begins on Saturday, Aug. 6 and finishes on Aug. 14.
The women's bronze and gold medal singles finals will happen on Aug. 13. The women's doubles gold medal final and mixed doubles gold final will go on Aug. 14.
For a full schedule, click here.