There is an extra chance for eternal glory between Wimbledon and the US Open this summer, but there is something on the line that the player cannot win the Grand Slam-Olympic gold.
The famous Roland Garros, unofficially known as the French Open, will add an Olympic ring to the beautiful clay court as the host of the Paris 2024 Olympic tennis. The Olympic tennis celebration will begin one day after the Olympic opening ceremony, on Friday, July 26. The medal events will include men’s singles, men’s doubles, women’s singles, women’s doubles and mixed doubles.
Each five-star event consists of a single elimination tournament. The men’s and women’s singles will feature 64 competitors (with a limit of four singles players per gender per country), while the men’s and women’s doubles series will include 32 teams. Seeding is based on international rankings.
All tennis matches in Paris will be best of three sets with a standard tie-break in each set.
Roland-Garros has 18 clay courts, and the main court—Philippe-Chatrier Court—will be the center stage for the finals in each event. In singles, it will take six consecutive match wins to reach the top of the podium. Tennis was absent from the sport for several decades until it returned as a full medal sport in 1988. And since then, the best players in the world have competed for gold every (well, in most cases) four years.
Here’s what fans need to know about Olympic men’s tennis in Paris.
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How to Watch Men’s Olympic Tennis
Tennis at the Olympics will begin on Saturday, July 27 and run through Sunday, August 4.
The competition schedule is subject to change until the end of the Games, but here’s what the current tennis calendar looks like, with start times, on the men’s side:
Saturday, July 27th
- Men’s singles first round, 6 a.m. ET
- Men’s doubles first round, 6 a.m. ET
- Men’s singles first round, 1 p.m. ET
Sunday, July 28
- Men’s singles first round, 6 a.m. ET
- Men’s doubles first round, 6 a.m. ET
- Men’s singles first round, 1 p.m. ET
Monday, July 29
- Men’s singles second round, 6 a.m. ET
- Men’s doubles second round, 6 a.m. ET
- Men’s singles second round, 1 p.m. ET
Tuesday, July 30
- Men’s singles second round, 6 a.m. ET
- Men’s doubles third round, 6 a.m. ET
- Men’s singles second round, 1 p.m. ET
Wednesday July 31st
- Men’s singles third round, 6 a.m. ET
- Men’s doubles semifinals, 7:45 and 8:48 ET
- Men’s singles third round, 1 p.m. ET
Thursday, August 1st
- Men’s singles quarterfinals, 6 am, 7:40 am and 1 pm ET
Friday, August 2
- Men’s singles semifinals, 6 a.m. ET
- Men’s doubles bronze medal match, 6 a.m. ET
- Men’s singles semifinals, 1 p.m. ET
Saturday, August 3rd
- Men’s singles bronze medal match, 6 a.m. ET
- Men’s doubles gold medal match, 11 a.m. ET
Sunday, August 4th
- Men’s singles gold medal match, 8:30 ET
Where to Watch Men’s Tennis
Live and tape-delayed coverage of men’s tennis at the Paris Olympics will air on CNBC, USA Network and E! from July 27. Fans can also stream tennis on mobile, tablet or connected TV devices through the free-download Peacock, NBC and NBC Olympics app.
Viewers with Peacock, after subscribing and logging in, can watch every event in Paris live and are encouraged to download the app—or go to PeacockTV.com/Olympics in a web browser—and find the Olympics section. NBC said viewers can also authenticate with their cable subscription, allowing them to watch live on NBC.com and the network’s other Olympic platforms.
NBCOlympics.com offers court-specific streams and is home to replays of events.
Men’s Tennis Olympic Names to Know
Germany’s Alexander Zverev heads to Paris with a chance to stand on the Olympic podium again after taking the men’s singles gold medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz, just 21 years old, is among the other favorites and has won two Slams before the Games—including his first win at the French Open and his second crown at Wimbledon. Alcaraz has won four of the last seven slams he entered, according to ESPN.
Italy’s Jannik Dosa is this year’s Australian Open champion who became world No. 1 for the first time in June, and will also be in Paris. He is 0-2 historically in matches against Alcaraz, however.
And count single-gold medal before Rafael Nadal (Spain), whose 112-4 all-time record and 14 French Open titles at Roland Garros suggest another deep run can be in play in the Games’ return to clay, and Andy Murray (Great). Britain), the first tennis player to claim the top spot on the Olympic podium twice for singles, is another familiar name in the competition pool.
Paris will mark the final Olympic appearance for both legends.
Speaking of Olympic finals, this is also the fifth and possibly final match for superstar Novak Djokovic (Serbia), who at 37 is still chasing the elusive gold medal.
Djokovic, about a month removed from surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his right knee, just lost to Alcaraz in the Wimbledon final again. For the second time, the 2020 gold-winning pair of Mate Pavić and Nikola Mektić of Croatia will return to try to repeat. The duo of Alcaraz and Nadal, however, will between the doubles team have something to say about it.
Uncommon knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for a common field.
