The 2024 Olympics Tennis Event promised to be a memorable one with world-class players vying for medals in Paris.
Olympic tennis consists of events in men’s and women’s singles, and men’s, women’s and mixed doubles. Singles matches are played to the best of three sets with a standard tie-break in every set, including the final set.
Tennis was first featured at the first modern Olympiad in Athens in 1896 but it was withdrawn after the 1924 Olympics due to disputes between the International Lawn Tennis Federation and the International Olympic Committee over how to define amateur players. There were intermittent returns until a definitive comeback as a full medal sport at the Olympic Games for Seoul in 1988.
Today, the sport features 172 players in five medal events and to be eligible for Paris 2024, tennis players must play on the Davis Cup or Billie Jean King Cup teams. The qualification pathway for the singles tournaments is primarily based on the ATP and WTA rankings of June 10, 2024, with 56 players entering each of the men’s and women’s singles (limited to four per National Olympic Committee).
Six of the remaining eight slots are given to the countries without qualified players across five continental zones (two for the Americas and one each for the rest). The final two spots are reserved for the host nation, France, and the other for the previous Olympic gold medalist or Grand Slam champion.
In the men’s and women’s doubles tournaments, thirty-two places will be offered to the highest-ranked teams with ten of them reserved for players in the top ten of the doubles rankings, who could then select a partner from their country ranked in the top 300 of either singles or doubles.
The remaining spots are attributed through the combined rankings with a preference given to the singles players once the total quota is filled. One team per gender is reserved for the host nation France if none has already become eligible otherwise.
Event Tickets
The 2024 Olympic Games Tennis Events will begin on Saturday 27 July with the men’s and women’s First Round beginning at noon UK time. Interested spectators must apply for Paris Olympics 2024 tickets on the official ticketing application to receive their tickets or put them back on sale.
The competition runs up until 4 August at the Stade Roland Garros which is a familiar ground for most of the athletes, especially considering the French Open is only a couple of months before the start of the Olympics.
The 2024 Games will be the first Olympic clay court event since Barcelona 1992 and it will also be the first Olympic tournament to be played at a Grand Slam venue since London 2012 at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club.
Tickets to these events will be sold out quickly and fans can beat the rush for Paris Olympics 2024 Tennis tickets by checking a resale site.
Team & Player News
Team USA’s Coco Gauff, Jessica Pegula, Taylor Fritz, Tommy Paul and Ben Shelton have mathematically secured their spots in the singles fields. Up to four American men and women can each qualify for the Olympics in singles so some spots will be determined at the French Open.
On the men’s side, Shelton has decided not to play in the Olympics if he qualifies and he has not yet publicly announced a final decision. If Shelton does not play, then Frances Tiafoe and Sebastian Korda are in a strong position to grab the last two U.S. men’s singles spots.
Chris Eubanks, the next American in the rankings, needs to reach at least the French Open semifinals to have any chance to pass Tiafoe or Korda.
For the women, Danielle Collins and Madison Keys will grab the last two spots if no Americans ranked below them make the French Open final.
Elsewhere, Rafael Nadal is currently ranked 276th in the world after missing most of the last year and a half due to injuries.
Yet the Spaniard can use a protected ranking available to players who miss at least six months of competition and he can advance to Paris 2024 regardless of his result at Roland Garros.
The record 14-time French Open champion may have been riddled with physical problems in recent times but he didn’t earn the nickname ‘King of Clay’ for nothing.
Olympic singles gold medalist in 2012 and 2016, Andy Murray, is currently ranked 75th in the world and he can earn one of two available spots for past Grand Slam champions or Olympic gold medalists.
Naomi Osaka and Belinda Bencic are two women’s tennis players who also require a protected ranking to reach the Games. Osaka is a four-time Grand Slam singles champion who has returned from childbirth, while the Swiss star is in a similar situation having won Olympic gold in 2020.
Predictions
Team USA’s Venus and Serena Williams have each won a record four gold medals after winning three doubles titles together in 2000, 2008 and 2012 as well as one singles gold each.
Great Britain’s Andy Murray is the only player to have won two Olympic singles gold medals and the only singles player to have retained the Olympic title.
Defending champion Alexander Zverev will try to join Murray on that prestigious list.
Other players like Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner and Nadal – who excel on red courts – will hope to stop Zverev in his tracks.
Sinner in particular is Italy’s big hope in his first Olympics appearance given his impeccable form in 2024 with the Australian Open victory as well as the Miami Open on a hard surface.
Novak Djokovic may have shown some inconsistency this season and the physical and tactical demands of the clay could lessen his prospects. However, the shorter format may allow the serial winner to stay fresh for the later rounds.
In the women’s event, Olympic gold medalist Iga Swiatek could be in for a special summer on the same court where she has won the singles title in 2020, 2022 and 2023.