The tournament was held from 23 September to 1 October at the Seoul Olympic Park Tennis Center in Seoul, South Korea. There were 62 players (31 pairs) from 31 nations, with the Colombian pair withdrawing.[1] Each nation had only one pair. There was no bronze-medal match.
Background
This was the eighth appearance of men's doubles tennis. 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. A demonstration event was held in 1968.
The top seed and favorite was the American pair, Ken Flach and Robert Seguso, who had just won their second consecutive Wimbledon title (adding to earlier U.S. and French Open wins.[1]
Brazil, the People's Republic of China, West Germany, Indonesia, Israel, New Zealand, Nigeria, Paraguay, South Korea, the Soviet Union, Yugoslavia, and Zimbabwe each made their debut in the event. Great Britain made its sixth appearance in the event, most of any nation.
Competition format
The competition was a single-elimination tournament. Unlike the pre-hiatus tournaments, there was no bronze-medal match. All matches were best-of-five sets. Tiebreaks were used for any set before the fifth that reached 6–6.
