Tennis at Paris 2024 Olympics: Who's playing? Where is it being held? Will Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic play?
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Updated 27/07/2023 at 14:39 GMT
Where will tennis be played at the Paris 2024 Olympics? How do players qualify? Which players will compete? Will Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic go for medals at the Games? The tennis at Paris 2024 starts on July 27, 2024, with five different events. We run through everything you need to know about tennis at the Olympics, including when it is and the medal hopefuls.
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This time next year the tennis events at the Paris 2024 Olympics will get started.
It is expected that most of the top stars on the ATP and WTA tours will compete at the Games as they look to earn medals. Last time out in Tokyo it was Germany’s Alexander Zverev and Switzerland’s Belinda Bencic who won singles gold.
But who will be competing for medals in Paris 2024? Where will the tennis be played? What are the qualification rules? Can Russian and Belarusian players compete? And will Rafael Nadal be playing?
We run through everything you need to know with one year to go until the medal hopefuls get under way in Paris on July 27, 2024.
Where will tennis be played at Paris 2024?
Roland-Garros, the home of the French Open, will host the tennis events at the Paris 2024 Olympics.
That means the tournament will be played on clay for the first time since Barcelona 1992, having been played on hard courts at seven out of the last eight Games (London 2012 at Wimbledon the exception).
It will be the seventh time overall that tennis at the Olympics has been contested on clay.
When it was last played on clay in 1992 the singles winners were Switzerland’s Marc Rosset and American Jennifer Capriati.
It will be the second time since tennis returned as a medal sport in 1988 that one of the Grand Slams has hosted the event, after Wimbledon in 2012.
How do tennis players qualify for Paris 2024?
There will be five tennis events at the Paris 2024 Olympics - men's singles and doubles, women's singles and doubles, and mixed doubles.
Each nation can nominate up to 12 players in total, with four the maximum number permitted to be entered into each singles draw.
To qualify, players must have been chosen in two Davis Cup (men) or Billie Jean King Cup (women) ties between Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024, although exceptions may apply.
If that criteria is passed then the top 56 players in the rankings on June 10, 2024 will qualify for the tournament.
The singles events will feature 64 players in the first round.
Are there seedings in tennis at the Paris 2024 Olympics?
Yes, players are seeded as they are at ATP and WTA events.
The seedings will be determined by the world rankings on June 10, 2024.
The world No. 1 will be the top seed and will be drawn on the opposite half of the draw to the world No. 2, meaning they could only meet in the final.
What’s the format for tennis at the Paris 2024 Olympics?
All matches in singles will be best-of-three sets.
The singles matches will have a standard first-to-seven tie-break in every set, including the last, while the doubles will have a match tie-break (first to 10 points) instead of a third set.
There will be a gold medal match between the winners of the two semi-finals and a bronze medal match between the losers of the two semi-finals.
Does tennis at the Paris 2024 Olympics carry ranking points?
There were ranking points on offer at the Olympics from 2004 to 2012, but that was discontinued from Rio 2016.
Now it’s all about the medals.
How does Paris 2024 fit into the tennis calendar?
The tennis event at Paris 2024 starts just two weeks after the conclusion of Wimbledon.
That means a swift change of surface from grass to clay, and post-Wimbledon clay events which are usually side-stepped by the top players might become more popular next summer.
After Wimbledon wraps up on July 14, there are two weeks of ATP clay events around Europe (the WTA is yet to confirm their calendar).
Tennis then starts on July 27 at Roland-Garros and runs for a week.
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As it is sandwiched between Wimbledon and the US Open, the Games are swiftly followed by hard-court events in North America.
On the ATP Tour, the Citi Open in Washington DC starts on July 29 and is followed by two Masters 1000 events – the Canadian Open in Montreal from August 5 and the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati from August 11.
The US Open, the final Grand Slam of the year, starts on August 26.
Who will be playing at Paris 2024?
Think of Roland-Garros and the first player that enters the mind is Rafael Nadal.
So, given he looks set to retire from tennis next year, could Paris 2024 be his final tournament?
"It’s difficult for me to predict how my situation is going to be, how my body is going to be,” he said about that prospect in May.
“I don’t want to say one thing and do the other. Of course, the Olympic Games is one of the competitions I’d love to be at. I can’t say if it’s going to be my last or not. I hope to be there. Whether it's my last tournament or not, I can't say now.”
Nadal, who is currently recovering from surgery, won singles gold at the 2008 Olympics and doubles gold in 2016.
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Marc Lopez (L) and Rafael Nadal won doubles gold at the 2016 Olympics
Image credit: Getty Images
While Nadal will be the headline name if he does play in Paris, there will be plenty of attention on another Spaniard too.
Carlos Alcaraz has taken the tennis world by storm over the last two years, winning two Grand Slam titles and reaching world No. 1.
He made the semi-finals at the French Open this season and should be one of the leading contenders to medal on his Olympic debut. He has also said it would be a "dream" to play doubles alongside Nadal.
Serbia’s Novak Djokovic will also have his sights on a medal in likely his final Olympics. Djokovic, 36, has not won a medal at the Games since taking bronze in 2008.
Great Britain’s Andy Murray is a two-time Olympic champion but a third gold seems unlikely in Paris considering he has not had much success on clay in the latter stages of his career. He has only played the French Open once since 2017.
Poland’s Iga Swiatek should be the top contender for women’s singles gold. Swiatek has won the French Open three times, including in 2022 and 2023, and has cemented her place as the best clay player around.
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Iga Swiatek is a three-time winner of the French Open
Image credit: Getty Images
Russia’s Aryna Sabalenka, Kazakhstan’s Elena Rybakina and Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur could be among the challengers.
Defending champion Belinda Bencic has not enjoyed much success on clay throughout her career so could find it tough to repeat her success in Tokyo.
Great Britain's Emma Raducanu has said she would "love" to play at Paris 2024 but she currently does not meet the criteria as she has only played one Billie Jean King Cup tie in this Olympic cycle.
Leading the way for France in men’s singles could be top-50 trio Adrian Mannarino, Ugo Humbert and Richard Gasquet. Gael Monfils has also set his sights on playing in Paris.
World No. 5 Caroline Garcia looks set to be the highest-ranked French player in the women’s singles.
Can Russian and Belarusian players compete at Paris 2024?
It seems Russian and Belarusian tennis players will be involved in the tennis events at Paris 2024.
The International Olympic Committee has said that invites won’t be sent to Russia and Belarus at this time, but if individual sports allow, then players will be permitted to compete under the neutral flag.
Russian and Belarusian players have been competing on the ATP and WTA tours under a neutral flag since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year.
The International Tennis Federation hasn’t yet made a final decision on the Olympics.
Russian and Belarusian players are suspended from playing in the Davis Cup and Billie Jean King Cup.
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