Qualification for the Paris 2024 Olympics
Today marked the deadline for earning ranking points to qualify for the Paris 2024 Olympics, which will take place from July 26 to August 11, with the tennis tournament running from July 27 to August 4. The tournament will be played on clay at Roland-Garros.
Here is the number of players who can participate in each event:
Men's Singles: 64 players
Women's Singles: 64 players
Men's Doubles: 32 teams
Women's Doubles: 32 teams
Mixed Doubles: 16 teams
A maximum of 6 male and 6 female players per country is allowed, with a maximum of 4 players in singles for both men and women. The National Olympic Committees of each country have the final say on the athletes representing them but are generally expected to follow the rankings as of June 10, 2024.
Players must have been selected and present to at least two Davis Cup or Billie Jean King Cup ties since 2021 to be eligible, with one participation in 2023 or 2024. However, players are not required to have played a match.
There is a committee that can assess certain candidacies not meeting this criteria, with Rafael Nadal being a notable example.
Who Will Qualify for Singles?
Direct Acceptances
Out of the 64 available spots in singles, 56 will be filled by players qualified through their ranking as of June 10, 2024. Future articles will detail each Olympic team and their selections.
ITF Tournaments
4 of the remaining 8 spots will be awarded to players who were champion or runner-up in specific International Tennis Federation (ITF) events and are within the top 400:
Men
Facundo Diaz Acosta - 64th - Pan American Games Champion *
Tomas Barrios Vera - 155th - Pan American Games Finalist
Zhizhen Zhang - 44th - Asian Games Champion (already qualified by ranking)
Moez Echargui - 335th - African Games Champion
*Diaz Acosta will be replaced by 3rd place finisher Thiago Monteiro as Argentine already have 4 players qualified via direct acceptance.
Women
Laura Pigossi - 115th - Pan American Games Champion
Maria Lourdes Carle - 86th - Pan American Games Finalist
Qinwen Zheng - 8th - Asian Games Champion (already qualified by ranking)
Angella Okutoyi - 491st - African Games Champion*
*Unfortunately, Angella Okutoyi was not able to be part of the top-400 in time for the rankings cutoff. She is a full-time student at the Auburn University and was not able to participate in enough events to increase her ranking. She will be replaced by Mayar Sherif.
Former Grand Slam Champions or Olympic Medalists
Two additional spots are reserved for former Olympic medalists or Grand Slam champions who are within the top 400 or have a protected ranking. Here is the list:
Men
Marin Cilic - 1075th - Protected Ranking (recovering from knee surgery)
Rafael Nadal - 264th
Stan Wawrinka - 93rd
Andy Murray - 97th
Dominic Thiem - 134th
Women
Angelique Kerber - 223rd
Naomi Osaka - 125th
Caroline Wozniacki - 117th
Emma Raducanu - 353rd
Bianca Andreescu - 323rd
Some players on this list may qualify through direct acceptances due to their protected
rankings.
Host Country and Universality Places
The last two places are allocated to the host country, France, and to an underrepresented country at the Olympics. The universality place is given to a country that had 8 or fewer athletes at the Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
Since France already has 4 eligible players, these spots will be allocated based on rankings.
Will Rafael Nadal Be Able to Participate in the Paris 2024 Olympics?
Since Rafael Nadal, the Olympic singles champion in Beijing in 2008 and doubles champion in Rio in 2016, has declared that 2024 will likely be his final year as a professional, all eyes are on Paris 2024. After Nadal's first-round loss to reigning Olympic champion Alexander Zverev at Roland-Garros, the question now arises: Will Rafa play in the Paris Olympics?
Nadal has a protected ranking of 9th, which would allow him to enter the Olympics among the 56 direct acceptances. However, doing so would potentially hinder the Olympic dream of his compatriot Jaume Munar, who would qualify among the 56 direct acceptances based on his world ranking of 60th (considering the limit of 4 players per country affecting the eligible ranking).
Since Nadal does not meet the Davis Cup participation quota to be eligible for the Olympics, his case will need to be reviewed by a special committee. Given Nadal's history and numerous injuries, this is likely to be a formality.
In the coming days, we will review the composition of each team participating in the Olympics. Don't forget to follow us on social media and subscribe to our newsletter to stay updated.
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