The tennis competitions at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris are scheduled to take place at the Stade Roland Garros from July 27 to August 4, with 172 participants competing in five medal events: mixed doubles, men's and women's singles, and doubles.
In addition, it will be the first Olympic competition held on a natural surface and at a Grand Slam location since the London 2012 competition was held at the Croquet Club and All England Lawn Tennis, home of the Wimbledon Championships.
Tennis Olympics History
There have been inconsistent tennis matches during the history of the Olympic Games. It appeared at the first modern Olympiad in Athens in 1896. However, disagreements about what qualifies a beginner player caused its removal from the schedule following the Olympic Games in 1924 between the International Lawn Tennis Federation and the International Olympic Committee.
Tennis did not return to the Olympic Games as a full medal sport until Seoul 1988, despite having returned as an inaugural event in Mexico in 1968 and Los Angeles in 1984. Since then, every Games edition has featured some of the best tennis players in the world.
Some legendary athletes have won the gold medal in recent years: Stan Wawrinka and Roger Federer, the 2008 Olympic doubles champions; Rafael Nadal, the 2008 and 2016 Olympic singles champion; and Venus and Serena Williams, who have combined for eight Olympic gold medals.
Tennis Olympics Rules
The Tennis Olympics in Paris rules are:
- The serving player must remain inside the lines of the center mark and the sideline, as well as behind the baseline on his side of the tennis court.
- Every player is able to serve twice at a point. A service fault happens when a player strikes the net or the ball bounces outside of the serving area for the first time.
- A double fault is when a player makes a mistake on both of his serves; the receiving player receives the point.
- For every point, the server must switch between the tennis court's vertical halves.
The server must toss the ball up with his non-playing hand and strike it with the racket before it bounces to successfully serve. For a serve to be considered valid, the ball must pass over the net and settle inside the designated serving area, which is located on the court's diagonal opposite side.
Tennis Olympics Players
With 64 players in each of the men's and women's singles draws, the Paris 2024 event is a single-elimination competition. The men's and women's singles competitions will have six rounds, the men's and women's doubles competitions will have five rounds, and the mixed doubles competition will have four rounds.
The two losing semifinalists will fight for a bronze medal, while the players and pairs who make it to the semifinals will be assured of a medal. Every singles match will consist of three sets best of three, with each set, including the final set, having a usual tiebreak.
A match tiebreak will be played in place of a third set in all double’s categories. Since the Barcelona 1992 tournament took place at Tennis de la Vall d'Hebron, the Paris 2024 competition will mark the first Olympic clay court competition.