Tennis is a game of history, with some of the game’s current mainstays (Wimbledon, Us Open, etc) older than the modern Olympics itself. Tennis was a main event at the very first Summer Olympic Games, held in Athens (Greece), 1896. The inaugural event featured only men’s singles and Doubles, which saw Britain take home both Gold Medals, represented by John Boland (Singles/ Doubles) and Friedrich Traun (Doubles).
The 1900 Paris Summer Games ushered in significant change for Tennis at the Olympics with the introduction of the women’s singles and mixed doubles category. This made Tennis one of the first Olympic sports to include female athletes. Britain again took home a first in Olympic Tennis history, with Charlotte Cooper achieving gold in the Women’s singles event.
Sadly, due to a dispute between the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the International Lawn Tennis Federation (ILTF; Now just ITF) regarding how amateur players are to be defined, Tennis was excluded from the games, for a period lasting 1924-1988 (64 Years). During this period, the sport was featured as a demonstration event twice, in Guadalajara (Mexico) 1968 then Los Angeles (USA) 1984, which saw a U-21 age cap on the sport.
Tennis’s eventual return was marked by the 1988 Seoul (South Korean) Olympics, expanding the competition pool to everyone regardless of age and professional status, along with becoming a full medal event. The sport has featured at every Summer Olympic Games since, including the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Since Olympic Tennis’s expansion to professional participants, the event has been taken incredibly seriously by Tennis and Olympics fans alike. With this, an increase in recognition and respect to the winners and runners-up. This respect has translated to an Olympic gold medal in Tennis remaining one of the key career goals of Tennis stars, as well as the achievement of a “Golden Slam”, in which a Tennis player completes a Grand Slam (Wins all four Grand Slam tournaments in the same calendar year) and gets Gold at any Tennis event. Famously, Tennis legend Steffi Graff has achieved a Golden Slam, which we cannot stress enough how impressive that is.
How is Olympic Tennis Formatted?
Olympics Tennis operates in the exact same format as tour and Grand Slam events. The sport is played as a straight knock-out tournament, across each category/ event. These events now typically include Men’s Singles, Men’s Doubles, Women’s Singles, Women’s Doubles, and Mixed Doubles.
These matches are played in a best of three sets format, with singles matches including three full tie-break sets, and doubles a match tie break. Semi-Finalists will either proceed to the Final to fight for Gold, the loser Silver, or move to a 3rd place match, for bronze.
To qualify for the event, players are selected by the relevant national sporting bodies. Only a maximum of 12 players can qualify from each nation, for all events total. Selected players must have competed in the Billie Jean King Cup or Davis Cup to be eligible.
The 2024 Paris Summer Olympics Tennis
The 2024 Paris Olympics will see Tennis competitions held at the iconic Roland Garros Stadium, home of the French Open. This of course means that the Olympics Tennis will be held on the Clay Court Surface, making for a very interesting sport this year. While Tennis on the tour is currently in Grass season, with Wimbledon having concluded very recently, participating stars will need to very quickly adapt back to clay.
How to See Tennis at the 2024 Paris Olympics
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