Tennis will be one of the most highly anticipated Olympic events at Paris 2024, with a superstar cast of players targeting gold.
From stars new to old, the competition will be fierce in both the men’s and women’s tournaments.
Here are five of the top contenders for gold at the Paris Olympics 2024:
Carlos Alcaraz – Spain
Alcaraz is the clear favourite for gold in the men’s singles, having won the 2024 French Open at Roland-Garros – which doubles up as the same clay court venue for the Paris Olympics tournament.
He also stormed to a fourth career Grand Slam title at Wimbledon on July 14, beating Novak Djokovic in straight sets in the final.
That victory made it back-to-back Wimbledon crowns for the Spaniard, who has now earned nearly $35m in prize money – all at the tender age of 21.
Born in Alicante in the southeast of Spain, Alcaraz claimed his first Grand Slam as a teenager when he lifted the US Open trophy in 2022 by beating Norway’s Casper Ruud.
Alcaraz is also scheduled to play doubles tennis with compatriot Rafael Nadal at the Olympics, so there is a very good chance he may walk away from Paris with two gold medals.
Naomi Osaka – Japan
After hometown heartbreak at Tokyo 2020, all eyes will be on Osaka as she seeks redemption for her disappointing third-round defeat at the last Olympics in her native Japan.
Born in the city that holds the same name as the world-ranked 102 tennis player, Osaka lit the Olympic cauldron for the games in Japan. Then seeded second – while also ranked number two in the world – Osaka was defeated by Czechia’s Marketa Vondrousova, who would go on to lose the final to Belinda Bencic of Switzerland.
The right-hander has four Grand Slam titles to her name, the US Open in 2018 and 2020 and Australian Open in 2019 and 2021, and is on the comeback trail after taking a lengthy break from the game for the birth of her first child.
Osaka returned to action as a wild card at the Australian Open this year but has failed to make it beyond the second round in the three Grand Slams to date in 2024. She is hoping to turn her season around with a medal at the Paris Olympics.
Novak Djokovic – Serbia
Fresh from his Wimbledon final defeat by Alcaraz, Djokovic will be eager for an immediate return to his winning ways at Paris 2024.
The 37-year-old holds the record for the most weeks ranked number one in world tennis and currently sits second behind Italy’s Jannik Sinner.
With a record 24 Grand Slam titles already to his name, the Olympics provide one last frontier for the Serbian to conquer.
Djokovic’s best Olympic performance to date is a bronze medal way back in 2008.
Iga Swiatek – Poland
With three consecutive French Open titles to her name, world number one Swiatek is the heavy favourite in the women’s singles at Roland-Garros in Paris.
At the Tokyo Olympics three years ago, the Pole was knocked out in the second round at her first games, just two months after winning her maiden French Open title.
But given her love affair with the clay courts of Paris – she’s won 31 of her last 32 matches at Roland-Garros – a golden summer is expected for Swiatek at the Olympics.
Rafael Nadal – Spain
In an extraordinary move, Nadal withdrew from this year’s Wimbledon Championships, citing his desire to focus on the Olympics.
The 22-time Grand Slam champion is expected to play in both the singles and doubles tournaments in Paris.
Nadal has struck Olympic gold twice before, defeating Fernando Gonzalez at the Beijing Games and eight years later, partnering with Marc Lopez to win the 2016 doubles at Rio de Janeiro.
His current world ranking has slipped to 224, and it is widely expected that he may retire from tennis at the end of 2024, making his return to Roland-Garros a possible farewell at the venue where he has won a record 14 French Open titles.
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