Photo : Kopatsch/Sato/Sidorjak
The Olympic tennis event is now one month away.
With Roland-Garros preparing to host the games in just a few weeks, the picture of who will be looking to bring home the gold is becoming clearer as nations are beginning to announce their lineups for the 2024 Summer Olympic games in Paris.
Canada announced their roster on Thursday, with five Canadians heading to Paris to represent the Great White North.
With the Olympics fast approaching, it is a good time to look ahead and provide everything you need to know about tennis at Paris 2024.
How does Olympic Tennis work?
The tennis event at the Olympics functions in mostly the same manner as any other top-level tennis tournament.
There will be five competitions: men’s and women’s singles, men’s and women’s doubles, and mixed doubles. The singles draws will feature 64 players and six rounds, making it similar to a Masters/WTA 1000 event. The men’s and women’s doubles draws will include 32 teams and five rounds, while the mixed doubles will have 16 teams and just four rounds.
All matches will be Best-of-Three sets with a standard (first to seven) tiebreak at the end of each set, including the deciding set. For all doubles competitions, the third set will be a super (first to 10) tiebreak, again the same as a 1000-level event.
One difference, with it being the Olympics and three medals being awarded, is that the losing semifinalists are still required to play another match for the bronze medal.
Read also: Galarneau’s Granby Glory Leads Big Canadian Week
The biggest difference between the Olympic tournament and every other tournament on the ATP and WTA tours is player eligibility.
Who is eligible to play at the Olympics?
The eligibility for the Olympics is different from regular tour events, which are based purely on rankings.
Rankings are a factor and will be based on the June 10, 2024 rankings. However, it will not simply be the Top 56 athletes who get into the singles draws (eight spots are reserved for other conditions).
Each nation is limited to just four athletes in the singles competitions and two doubles teams. If a country has more than four athletes in the Top 56, only the top four can be selected. For example, the United States has eight women and seven men in the Top 56 of the respective tour rankings; only four were selected for each draw.
This limit was not an issue for Canada, as only Félix Auger-Aliassime and Leylah Annie Fernandez were ranked in the Top 56 outright, while Milos Raonic and Bianca Andreescu were able to get in with their protected rankings.
Participation in the Davis Cup or Billie Jean King Cup during the Olympic cycle, in this case since 2021, is required to be eligible for the Olympics. A player must have been nominated for and present at a minimum of two ties/events, with at least one of those participations being in 2023 or 2024.
If a player does not meet the Davis/Billie Jean King Cup requirements, a panel does exist to consider extenuating circumstances and may grant eligibility. This was the case for Andreescu.
For doubles, players in the Top 10 of the doubles ranking receive direct entrance as long as their partner is ranked inside the Top 300. After that, places are determined based on the combined rankings of the two members of the team.
Mixed doubles will be based on the combined ranking of the two players.
Across all five competitions, a country can send no more than six men and six women. Final nominations for the Olympics will be determined by the Tennis Canada Olympic Selection Committee.
Which Canadians will be competing in Paris 2024?
Five Canadians have been nominated to the Canadian Olympic team:
- Bianca Andreescu
- Félix Auger-Aliassime
- Leylah Annie Fernandez
- Gabriela Dabrowski
- Milos Raonic
Andreescu, Fernandez, Auger-Aliassime, and Raonic will all be competing in singles.
Read also: Pressure Not a Problem for Fernandez
Canada will have two doubles pairs confirmed, one in each draw. Fernandez and Dabrowski, who have played together successfully at the Billie Jean King Cup on multiple occasions, will play in the women’s doubles, while Auger-Aliassime and Raonic are teaming up in the men’s doubles.
The entry list for mixed doubles will also be based on ranking but determined via an on-site sign-in the week of the event and will comprise athletes who are already participating in one of the other four draws
It will be the Olympic debut for Andreescu.
Canada’s History at the Olympics
Since tennis was officially reintroduced to the Olympics in 1988, Canada has sent at least two athletes to every Games.
Canada has won one medal in Olympic tennis. At the 2000 Summer Games in Sydney Australia, Daniel Nestor and Sébastien Lareau defeated the local favourites Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde to win the men’s doubles gold medal.
Nestor also finished fourth in the men’s doubles at Rio 2016 with Vasek Pospisil, losing to eventual gold medalists Rafael Nadal and Marc Lopez of Spain in the semis before falling to Americans Steve Johnson and Jack Sock in the bronze medal match.
Raonic will be competing at the Olympics for the second time in his career. His lone previous appearance was also the last time the event was held at a Grand Slam venue, in 2012 when Wimbledon player host.
Read also: WTA Power Rankings – More Surprises Coming at Wimbledon?
On that occasion, Raonic reached the second round where he lost the longest best-of-three match in terms of games in Olympic history, falling 25-23 in the third set to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
At the last Olympics in Tokyo, Leylah Annie Fernandez went down in the second round to reigning French Open champion Barbora Krejcikova, while Felix Auger-Aliassime lost in the first round to Max Purcell of Australia. Both of them were competing at the Olympics for the first time.
Gabriela Dabrowski competed in both women’s and mixed doubles, but lost in the first round of both with Sharon Fichman and Auger-Aliassime respectively. The Ottawan also played in the 2016 Games in Rio, losing in round two with Eugenie Bouchard.
