Olympic Tennis: Dates, format, eligibility rules and what you need to know

The Hologic WTA Tour's top players are gearing up for the Paris 2024 Olympics, where tennis will feature prominently thanks to the sport's all-star cast.

Tennis was one of the nine original Olympic sports at the first modern Olympic Games at Athens 1896 and continued until 1924. It returned as a full medal sport at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul. 

Here's what you need to know about this year's Olympics:

When are the Paris 2024 Olympics?

The Paris Olympics will begin on July 26 with the Opening Ceremonies and conclude on Aug. 11.

The tennis event will be played during the first week of the Olympics, starting Saturday, July 27 to Sunday, Aug. 4. The medal rounds will be played from Friday, Aug. 2.

Where will the tennis be played?

The tournament will be played on outdoor red clay at the Stade Roland Garros, the same venue that hosts the French Open. It will be the first Olympic tennis event played on clay since Barcelona 1992 and the first Grand Slam venue to hold Olympic action since the All England Club at London 2012.

What are the sizes of the draws?

The Olympic Tennis Event will be comprised of five separate events:

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

Who is playing in Paris? 

Here are the projected Top 8 seeds at the Olympics:

1. Iga Swiatek (POL)
2. Coco Gauff (USA)
3. Elena Rybakina (KAZ)
4. Jasmine Paolini (ITA)
5. Jessica Pegula (USA)
6. Zheng Qinwen (CHN)
7. Maria Sakkari (GRE)
8. Danielle Collins (USA) 

For a full accounting of the Olympic teams, click here. 

Are there ranking points at the Olympics?

No. Hologic WTA Tour ranking points are not awarded for Olympic participation. 

Who are the reigning Olympic medalists?

Singles

Gold: Belinda Bencic (SUI)
Silver: Marketa Vondrousova (CZE)
Bronze: Elina Svitolina (UKR)

Doubles

Gold: Barbora Krejcikova & Katerina Siniakova (CZE)
Silver: Belinda Bencic & Viktorija Golubic (SUI)
Bronze: Laura Pigossi & Luisa Stefani (BRA)

Mixed doubles

Gold: Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova & Andrey Rublev
Silver: Elena Vesnina & Aslan Karatsev
Bronze: Ashleigh Barty & John Peers (AUS)

What does the draw look like?

The draw will be conducted and released on Thursday, July 25. 

Will there be WTA Tournaments during the Olympics? 

Yes. The Hologic WTA Tour calendar will continue as scheduled during the Olympics:

July 21-26: Hamburg (WTA 250), Prague (WTA 250)

July 29-Aug.4: Washington D.C. (WTA 500)

Aug. 6-12: Toronto (WTA 1000)

How does Olympic eligibility work? 

Ranking requirement: Direct entries for the Olympics were based on the ATP and WTA rankings after the French Open on Monday, June 10.

Participation requirement: Players must have fulfilled the minimum participation requirement at the ITF's Davis Cup or Billie Jean King Cup during the four-year Olympic cycle. A player has fulfilled the requirement by being part of the final nominated team and present at the tie on a minimum of two occasions. One of those appearances must have occurred in either 2023 or 2024. Players who have not met the minimum participation requirement may submit an appeal to the ITF Olympic Committee. 

Standing requirement: All athletes must be in good standing with their National Association and the ITF. 

For full details on Olympic eligibility click here.

How does a player qualify to play?

A nation can send no more than 12 qualified athletes (six men, six women) to compete across the five events. 

Singles Qualification

A nation can send a maximum of four singles players. The 64-player singles draws will be comprised of 56 direct acceptances, six final qualification places as allocated by the ITF, one host nation place and one universality place. 

The ITF has allocated the final qualification places to the Pan American Games winner (Laura Pigossi of Brazil) and runner-up (Maria Lourdes Carle of Argentina), Asian Games winner (Zheng Qinwen), and two former Olympic Gold medalists and/or Grand Slam Champions.

A qualification spot was also allocated to the winner of the African Games, however all singles players must be ranked inside the Top 400 on the cut-off date. Angella Okutoyi of Kenya won the African games but did not meet the ranking requirement to qualify. 

Two places may be awarded to an Olympic singles gold medalist or Grand Slam singles champion who has not achieved direct acceptance, provided they are ranked inside the Top 400 in singles and the quota for their country has not already been filled. If more than two athletes meet these criteria, the places will be allocated to the two athletes with the higher number of titles. If three or more athletes meet these criteria and have the same number of titles, the two highest-ranked athletes based on singles will qualify.

Full details on Olympic qualification here.

Doubles Qualification

The 32-team doubles draws is comprised of 31 direct acceptances and one team from the Host Nation. A nation can send a maximum of two teams. 

Direct Acceptance places are determined in the following order:
a. Players ranked in the Doubles Top 10, provided their partner is ranked inside the Top 300;
b. Additional places up to and including the 24th Direct Acceptance team will be allocated to the highest-ranked teams based on the Combined Ranking of each team using a player's best ranking in singles or doubles;
c. Additional teams will earn direct acceptance in the following "Singles Priority": i) Highest combined-ranked teams with both athletes accepted into the Singles event; ii) Highest combined-ranked teams with one athlete accepted into the Singles event; iii) Highest combined-ranked teams remaining in the nominations

Mixed doubles qualification

The 16-team mixed doubles draws will be comprised of 15 direct acceptances and one team from the Host Nation. Nations may enter only one mixed doubles team.

Direct Acceptance places are based on the Combined Ranking of each team. The team must be comprised of players already entered in singles or doubles.