Paris 2024 Olympic Tennis: What you need to know about the event, eligibility criteria

The tennis event schedule for the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris has been revealed by the International Tennis Federation.

When are the Paris 2024 Olympics?

The Opening Ceremonies of the Paris Olympics will take place on July 26 and end on August 11.

The tennis event is scheduled to take place from Saturday, July 27 to Sunday, August 4, during the first week of the Olympics. The medal rounds are scheduled to begin on Friday, August 2.

During the first modern Olympic Games in Athens in 1896, tennis was one of the nine original Olympic sports. It was played there until 1924. It made a comeback at the 1988 Seoul Olympics as a full medal sport.

Where will the tennis be played?

The French Open is held in the same stadium, Stade Roland Garros, where the tournament will be held on outdoor red clay. It will be the first clay-court Olympic tennis match since Barcelona in 1992 and the first Olympic Grand Slam site since the All England Club in London.

What are the sizes of the draws?

There will be five different events that make up the Olympic Tennis Event:

Women’s and men’s singles: 64 players
Women’s and men’s doubles: 32 teams
Mixed doubles: 16 teams

Do the Olympics have ranking points?

No, competing in the Olympics will not earn you ranking points on the Hologic WTA Tour.

Who can participate in the game?

Ranking requirement: Following the French Open on Monday, June 10, the ATP and WTA rankings will determine who gets to go directly to the Olympics. By Monday, July 8, the ITF will release the singles and doubles entrance lists. Later in July, the mixed doubles entry list will be released.

Participation requirement: During the four-year Olympic cycle, players must have met the minimum participation requirements at the ITF’s Davis Cup or Billie Jean King Cup. By becoming a member of the final nominated squad and attending the tie at least twice, a player meets the condition. At least one of the appearances have to take place in 2023 or 2024. Players may file an appeal with the ITF Olympic Committee if they have not fulfilled the minimum participation criteria.

Standing requirement: Every athlete needs to be in good standing with both the ITF and their national association.

How does a player get into the game?

No more than 12 eligible athletes (six men and six women) from a country may compete in all five events.

Qualification for Singles

A country may submit up to four singles players. The 64-player singles draws will consist of 56 direct acceptances, 6 ITF-allocated final qualification spots, 1 host nation spot, and 1 universality spot.

Note: The host nation spot will be moved to the next direct entry if France directly qualifies an individual or team.

The winners of the Pan American Games (Laura Pigossi of Brazil) and the runner-up (Maria Lourdes Carle of Argentina), the Asian Games (Zheng Qinwen), the African Games (TBD), and two previous Olympic Gold medalists and/or Grand Slam Champions (TBD) will receive the final qualification spots from the ITF.

Olympic gold medallists or Grand Slam singles champions who have not received direct admittance may be granted two spots if they are ranked in the top 400 in singles and their nation’s quota has not yet been filled. The athletes with the greatest number of titles will be assigned the spots if more than two athletes fit these requirements. The top two athletes based on singles rankings will qualify if three or more competitors fit these requirements and have the same amount of titles.

Doubles Qualification

One team from the Host Nation and 31 direct acceptances will make up the 32-team doubles draws. A country may send up to two teams total.

The following criteria are used to select Direct Acceptance places:

a. players in the Top 10 in the Doubles rankings as long as their partner is in the Top 300;

b. The highest-ranked teams will receive additional spots up to and including the 24th Direct Acceptance team, based on each team’s combined ranking using a player’s best singles or doubles ranking;

c. Additional teams will be directly admitted in the following “Singles Priority”: 1) Highest rated teams with two athletes admitted into the singles event; 2) Highest ranked teams with just one athlete accepted into the singles event; 3) Highest ranked teams still in the running for recognition

Qualification for mixed doubles

There will be one team from the Host Nation and fifteen direct acceptances in the 16-team mixed doubles draws. Only one mixed doubles team per nation may enter.

The order of each team’s combined rankings determines the Direct Acceptance spots. Players who have previously registered for singles or doubles must make up the team.