The Paris 2024 Olympics tennis tournament starts on Saturday! The Tennis Gazette tells you everything you need to know about the rules and qualification process.
The Olympics opening ceremony takes place on Friday, where Coco Gauff will be Team USA’s flag bearer, and fans will not have to wait long to see their favourite tennis stars in action.
The draw has already been announced and there are several fascinating first-round match-ups.
There should also be some epic battles in round two, such as 24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic vs 2008 gold medallist Rafael Nadal.
Many people are wondering how the players qualified to compete at Roland Garros, while others are unsure of the rules of the upcoming tournament. The Tennis Gazette has you covered.
How do tennis players qualify for the Paris 2024 Olympics?
There are five tennis events at the Paris 2024 Olympics: men’s singles, women’s singles, men’s doubles, women’s doubles and mixed doubles.
There are 64 players in each of the singles competitions, 32 pairs in the men’s and women’s doubles and 16 teams in the mixed doubles.
Each National Olympic Committee can qualify up to 12 athletes (six per gender), with a maximum of four players in each singles tournament, two pairs in each doubles and one pair in the mixed doubles.
Singles qualification
56 of the 64 singles players in each singles tournament have qualified through their world ranking.
Meanwhile, seven men and seven women have been given ITF Places. Some have obtained an ITF Place by winning or finishing runner-up in the 2023 Pan-American Games, 2022 Asian Games and 2023 African Games. Others, like Rafael Nadal, have qualified through being an Olympic/Grand Slam champion.
The final spot has gone to players with Universality Places, given to athletes from underrepresented NOCs. In singles, these are Lebanon’s Benjamin Hassan and Montenegro’s Danka Kovinic.
Doubles qualification
The top 10 players in the ATP and WTA doubles rankings qualified for the Olympics, alongside a partner of their choosing – as long as they were inside the top 300.
The remaining places have gone to the pairs via their combined ranking, as well as singles players looking to double up.
Mixed doubles qualification
The mixed doubles teams only consist of players who have entered at least one of the tennis other events and have been whittled down to 16 through their combined ranking.
What are the rules for the Paris 2024 Olympics Tennis?
All tennis matches at the Paris 2024 Olympics will be best-of-three sets long, unlike Grand Slams which are best-of-five sets.
Tie-breaks will be an important feature of the tournaments. These will typically be first to seven points, winning by at least two points, as seen on the ATP and WTA Tours.
However, the third set of doubles matches will be a tie-break that is first to 10 points instead of the normal scoring method.
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