How do tennis players qualify for Olympics? When is cut-off date? Will Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray, Emma Raducanu play?
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Published 22/05/2024 at 08:23 GMT
Which tennis players will qualify for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games? How do they qualify? And when is the cut-off date for qualification? The tennis event at the Games will start on July 27 and time is running out for players to secure their spots. We run through everything you need to know about the process to qualify for singles and doubles tennis at the Olympics.
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The 2024 Paris Olympics are fast approaching.
The tennis event at the Games will be played on clay at Roland-Garros, home of the French Open, and will run from July 27 to August 4.
There are set to be 172 tennis players competing for medals across singles, doubles and mixed doubles.
But which players will be at the Games? How do they qualify and when is the cut-off date for qualification?
How do tennis players qualify for the Olympics?
There are a few key criteria that players need to fulfil to be eligible to compete at the Games:
- The player must be in good standing with their national sports association
- The player must have been part of a nominated Davis Cup or Billie Jean King Cup team twice during the Olympic cycle, with one of them being in 2023 or 2024
- The player must be 14 or over for men, and 15 or over for women
If a player does not meet these criteria, for example they have not played twice in the Davis Cup or Bilie Jean King Cup over the last three years, then they can apply for an exemption to the International Tennis Federation Olympic Committee.
Each nation can nominate a maximum of 12 eligible players – six for the men’s events and six for the women’s events.
The singles events at the Games are 64-player draws and a maximum of four players from one country can enter each draw.
The ATP and WTA rankings on Monday, June 10 (the day after the French Open finishes) will be used as the cut-off point to determine which players get direct entry into the main draws.
The 56 highest-ranked singles players on the ATP and WTA tours on June 10 will be offered places, with a maximum of four per country. For example, the USA currently has six players in the ATP top 50, but the Olympic places would be offered to the four that are highest in the rankings, who are currently Taylor Fritz, Ben Shelton, Tommy Paul and Frances Tiafoe.
| Key Olympic qualifying points |
| Must be ranked in the top 56 on cut-off date of June 10 to qualify automatically |
| Maximum of four singles players per country |
| Two places in each singles draw for Grand Slam winners or gold medallists who don’t automatically qualify |
| Players can use protected rankings and can apply for special exemption if they don’t meet eligibility criteria |
What about other qualifying places?
Along with the 56 direct entries determined by the world rankings, there are eight other spots available.
Two men’s and women’s singles places are on offer from the Pan American Games, and also one per singles event from the Asian and African Games.
There are also two places in each singles draw for players who have won a Grand Slam title or an Olympic gold medal, but don’t qualify by direct entry.
These are spots that could be utilised by Naomi Osaka, Angelique Kerber or Emma Raducanu, none of whom are ranked high enough to qualify directly, but have won at least one Grand Slam title
If all three looked to gain entry through this route then the places will be offered to the players with the highest number of titles (Grand Slams or gold medals), and if that’s the same it will be given to the higher-ranked player on June 10.
Andy Murray and Rafael Nadal could also go down this route.
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Emma Raducanu
Image credit: Getty Images
Three-time Grand Slam winner Murray is ranked at No. 75, while Nadal is at No. 276.
Nadal - along with Osaka and Kerber - could also use his protected ranking.
The 22-time Grand Slam champion has a protected ranking of No. 9, which could secure him a spot in the Spain team, but he would also need to apply for an exemption to the ITF Olympic Committee as he has not fulfilled the Davis Cup criteria over the last cycle.
There is also a spot available for a host country player if they do not qualify automatically, but this is unlikely to be needed for France so will go to the next highest-ranked player according to the rankings.
What about doubles?
The men’s and women’s doubles draws will each feature 32 teams, with a maximum of two teams per country.
There are 31 direct entry places and one host country place.
As with the singles, the rankings on June 10 will help determine who qualifies for the doubles.
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Doubles at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics
Image credit: Getty Images
The top 10 ATP and WTA doubles players on the cut-off date will all get direct entry and can team up with a player from their country ranked inside the top 300 in either singles or doubles. Further places are then allocated using combined singles or doubles rankings (the ranking is obtained by adding together each player’s best ranking from either singles or doubles).
The 16 mixed doubles teams will be chosen from players that have already been accepted for singles and/or doubles.
How many events can players compete in?
Each player can compete in all three available events: singles, doubles, and mixed doubles.
There will be players competing in singles and doubles as each nation can only choose up to 12 players in total, a maximum of six for each of the men’s and women’s events.
Is that all?
Not quite.
If places are not accepted by eligible players then they will reallocated. Most of the spots will be reallocated to the next highest-ranked players, except for the continental qualification places which will go to the next highest-placed athlete in that respective tournament.
When will the Olympic tennis list be confirmed?
The deadline for places to be allocated is Monday, July 8.
But the ITF says it expects the final entry list could be confirmed in the week of July 1.
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