Aussie tennis Olympians receive honours

Wednesday, 2 January 2019:

A clutch of famous Australian tennis heroes have been honoured for representing their country in recent Olympics Games.

Wayne Arthurs (Athens 2004), Sam Groth (Rio 2016), Rennae Stubbs (Atlanta 1996, Sydney 2000, Athens 2004, Beijing 2008) and rising star John Millman (Rio 2016) all received their post-nominal "Oly" titles at a court-side ceremony ahead of the start of day two of this year's Brisbane International Tournament.

Daria Gavrilova and John Peers (both Rio 2016) could not attend the presentation but will receive their award at a later date.

The OLY title is available to any athlete to have competed at a summer or winter Games.

The World Olympians Association launched the Oly post-nominal letters initiative in November 2017 and since then, more than 10,000 Olympians worldwide have been granted the honour.

Local lad Millman, 29, who is poised to play Grigor Dimitrov for a spot in this year's Brisbane quarterfinals on Wednesday, admitted he was proud to accept an Oly award.

"I grew up watching the Olympics and I think anyone who loves sport has dreams and aspirations of representing their country there.

"As tennis players, throughout the year we compete as individuals but to come together once every four years for the Olympics made it pretty special to me. To be able to play for Australia was a humbling moment."






AAP