Paris | Ramping up for Olympic Tennis 

The official checklist of entries for the 2024 Olympic Tennis Occasion in Paris can be made obtainable by the ITF on 4 July, however, with every Nationwide Olympic Committee in a position to qualify as much as 12 athletes, 6 per gender, represented by as much as 4 gamers (the most effective ranked inside their nation) in every of the singles attracts, 2 entries in every of the doubles attracts, and just one entry in combined doubles, participant names are regularly being launched.

In Tokyo, I keep in mind how traumatic it was. This yr I am making an attempt to essentially maintain my expectations low, however actually work onerous to be ready for the Olympics. I am going to attempt to do all the pieces step-by-step, deal with this match as every other one, though these are the Olympics, to not put an excessive amount of strain on my shoulders. Iga Swiatek

The rankings of 10 June 2024 that adopted the conclusion of Roland Garros decide nearly all of gamers who will qualify straight, and, on the ladies’s aspect, we already know that the 64-player subject can be led by World No 1 Iga Swiatek.

A number of high gamers, although, have determined to decide out, together with Aryna Sabalenka, the World No 2, Ons Jabeur, ranked 10, and 2021 US Open champion Emma Raducanu, who was supplied a wild-card.

Coco Gauff, the World No 3 and the reigning US Open champion, will lead compatriots Jessica Pegula, Danielle Collins and Madison Keys in America’s quest for a gold medal, whereas former World No 1s Naomi Osaka and Caroline Wozniacki are also set to return to Roland Garros to play the Olympics, which is is scheduled to start on 27 July.

The Japanese Tennis Federation confirmed Osaka’s choice final week, for what can be her second Olympic look. The 4-time Grand Slam champion was chosen by Japan to gentle the Olympic flame on the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

“Rising up watching the Olympics on TV, I felt that it was a celebration of sport,” Osaka mentioned. “I believed it introduced everybody collectively, and simply to have the ability to be an athlete there, and work together with different athletes, is likely one of the funnest issues that I’ve ever finished.

“And if I do play, I’ve excessive ambitions of myself and I hope that I can do very well and get a medal,” she added.

Her most notable achievement thus far was reaching the quarter-finals in Qatar, and she or he concluded her clay season by offering eventual champion Swiatek together with her hardest problem on the French Open.

33-year outdated Wozniacki is about to play her 4th Olympics, becoming a member of Clara Tauson within the Danish line-up.

“One of many causes I got here again was to play on the Olympics,” Wozniacki mentioned. “I’m very pleased with coming again. I’ve nothing to show, I really like what I do.”

Ranked No 117 on the entry deadline, Wozniacki would have been eligible for one of many 2 spots reserved for former Grand Slam champions.

Raducanu might have availed herself of that so-called ‘wild-card’ spot, however has opted to skip the Olympics.

Ranked 209 on the entry cut-off, Raducanu confirmed her resolution to say no her entry throughout her run to the semi-finals of the Rothesay Open final week.

“I’m very single-minded, and I do issues my very own manner, and in my very own time, at any time when I need,” Raducanu advised reporters. “So, not in a diva manner, simply prioritising my physique and my well being as a result of I do know, if I’m match, I do know if I’m giving my 100%, I do know nice issues are taking place and coming.

“I simply don’t suppose there’s any must put further stress on my physique or any threat, particularly with my historical past.”

Raducanu additionally skipped Roland Garros to maximise her preparation for the grass-court season.

Iain Bates, Head of GB’s Olympic tennis workforce, mentioned: “I’ve had numerous conversations with Emma during the last couple of weeks, and a barely longer interval, the place it’s very clear how a lot being a part of a British workforce at an Olympics would imply to her.

“I believe she feels this isn’t going to be the precise timing for her for this summer season. She’s hopefully obtained many Olympics forward of her. I’m very comfy with the choice that she’s made.”

Nice Britain can have just one participant within the girls’s singles draw, with that honour going to British No 1 Katie Boulter.

Boulter, ranked 30, can even characteristic within the doubles alongside Heather Watson, with Harriet Dart & Maia Lumsden additionally set to signify Workforce GB in Paris.

© Nathan Stirk/Getty Photographs for LTA

Jabeur additionally introduced she would skip the Olympics for precautionary measures towards damage.

“After consulting with my medical workforce relating to attending the Olympics in Paris, we’ve got determined that the fast change of floor, and the physique’s adaptation required would put my knee in danger and jeopardise the remainder of my season,” Jabeur posted on social media on Monday. “Sadly, I won’t be able to take part within the 2024 Paris Olympics.

“I’ve at all times liked representing my nation in any competitors. Nonetheless, I need to take heed to my physique and observe my medical workforce’s recommendation.”

Jabeur, who’s a 3-time Olympian, in 2012, 2016 and 2021, is in the course of her grass-court swing as she eyes a maiden Grand Slam title at Wimbledon, the place she has completed because the runner-up within the final 2 years.

On Monday, Sabalenka, who’s the reigning Australian Open champion, advised reporters on the ecotrans Girls Open in Berlin that she has determined to handle herself, and put together for the hard-court summer season.

“Particularly with all of the struggles I’ve been fighting the final months, I really feel I’ve to handle my well being,” Sabalenka mentioned at media day. “It’s an excessive amount of for the scheduling, and I made the choice to handle my well being.”

For the primary time since Barcelona in 1992, the Olympic tennis occasion can be held on clay, which requires gamers to transition from grass at Wimbledon to the clay at Roland Garros for the Olympics, after which onto onerous courts for the North American swing main into the US Open.

Additionally, the ultimate day of the Olympic Video games tennis competitors overlaps with the beginning of the US Open season, which options back-to-back WTA 1000 occasions in Toronto and Cincinnati, adopted by the ultimate Grand Slam of the yr in New York, the place Sabalenka was a finalist final yr.

“I want to have a little bit relaxation to verify, bodily and health-wise, I’m prepared for the onerous courts,” Sabalenka continued, “And I’ll have a superb preparation earlier than going to the onerous court docket season. I really feel that that is safer and higher for my physique.”

Sabalenka is enjoying her first match since Roland Garros, the place she struggled with a abdomen sickness throughout her quarter-final loss to Mirra Andreeva.

“It was the worst expertise I had in my life on court docket,” Sabalenka admitted. “I’ve performed whereas being sick, I’ve performed with accidents, however when you have got a abdomen bug, and also you don’t have any power to play, and also you’re within the quarter-final of a Grand Slam, that was actually horrible expertise. However it’s how it’s.

“I believe my physique was simply asking for some relaxation. I managed to search out a few days to sit back and recuperate after the powerful months.”

Athletes from Russia and Belarus who qualify for the Video games can solely compete as neutrals, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

World No 2 Coco Gauff leads a robust American squad of Jessica Pegula, Danielle Collins and Madison Keys on the Paris Olympics

© Inaki Esnaola/Getty Photographs

In the meantime, Swiatek considers the Olympics to be her most vital match as a result of her father competed within the 1988 Seoul Video games, representing Poland within the males’s Quadruple Sculls rowing occasion and  ending seventh.

“Due to that, I do know that the Olympics are crucial occasion in all probability in sports activities total,” Swiatek mentioned on the French Open’s draw ceremony. “Successful any medal could be a dream come true.

“In Tokyo, I keep in mind how traumatic it was. This yr I’m making an attempt to essentially maintain my expectations low, however actually work onerous to be ready for the Olympics,” added the 23-year outdated, who misplaced to Spain’s Paula Badosa within the 2nd-round in Tokyo. “I’ll attempt to do all the pieces step-by-step, deal with this match as every other one, though these are the Olympics, to not put an excessive amount of strain on my shoulders.”

Having lifted the French Open trophy for the third time in a row, her 4th total, Swiatek, who additionally secured back-to-back titles on clay in Madrid and Rome this yr, is the clear favorite to win Gold on her beloved Roland Garros court docket.

Roland Garros is being remodeled into an Olympic venue for Paris 2024

© Bertrand Guay/AFP through Getty Photographs

Because the solar set on the French Open, a brand new race obtained underway as Roland Garros transforms its the enduring crimson clay courts into a stunning Olympic venue in a matter of weeks.

Chosen again in 2016 to be one of many 41 websites for the Paris 2024 Olympics, Roland Garros should adjust to the meticulous requirements set by the Worldwide Olympic Committee and Paris 2024 organisers in simply 6 weeks.

The transition requires a ‘clear venue’, the place all distinctive Roland Garros marks are hidden and changed by the Olympic rings and the host metropolis’s emblem, and, by 20 July, when gamers begin coaching, will probably be awash within the vibrant colors of the Olympic Video games.

First, the match workforce needed to dismantle meals stands, leisure corners and something branded with Roland Garros that may be eliminated, with the Olympic make-over ramping up till mid-July, when a complete safety verify will pave the best way for the arrival of the athletes.

Whereas the 6-week timeline is extra beneficiant than the three weeks allotted for the transformation of Wimbledon for the London 2012 Video games, the problem stays immense.

Contained in the courts, over 250 objects want changing, from the umpires’ chairs to the LED commercials, which can be swapped out for tarpaulins sporting the Olympics look.

Regardless of the intensive make-over, some acquainted parts will stay, together with the statue of 14-times champion Rafael Nadal.

At the same time as Courtroom Philippe-Chatrier Courtroom adopts its Olympic colors, its distinctive moucharaby wall bearing the title of Roland Garros will stay seen, and the enduring ‘RG’ emblem can even keep on the hundreds of seats throughout the courts.

After the tennis occasion, the Courtroom Philippe-Chatrier will endure yet one more transformation to host the Olympic boxing finals over 5 evenings, marking the tip of a unprecedented summer season for this storied venue.

The Paris Olympics will start on 26 July with the Opening Ceremonies, and conclude on 11 August.

The tennis occasion can be performed throughout the first week of the Olympics, beginning Saturday, 27 July to Sunday, 4 August, with the medal rounds performed from Friday, 2 August.

Tennis was one of many 9 unique Olympic sports activities on the first fashionable Olympic Video games at Athens 1896 and continued till 1924. It returned as a full medal sport on the 1988 Olympics in Seoul.

Olympic champion Belinda Bencic is not going to be defending her Gold Medal as she is on maternity depart

© Tiziana Fabi/AFP through Getty Photographs

Reigning Olympic medalists (Girls)

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)

Combined doubles

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