The Olympic Games are but a week away, and players are readying themselves for the Tennis Event campaign, which begins on Saturday 27 July on the clay courts of Roland Garros in Paris, in the hopes of realizing an Olympic dream.
Some players have had more time to adjust back to the red clay, while others are having to make a swift transition from the grass. For the first time in more than 30 years, an Olympic Tennis Event is being held on the ‘terre battue’, and it is only just 2 weeks since The Championships are Wimbledon wrapped up with singles titles for Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic and Carlos Alcaraz of Spain.
“Everyone’s, kind of, doing it. We’ll all be in the same boat,” said Jessica Pegula, an American ranked in the Top 10 who is expected to play singles, women’s doubles with US Open champion Coco Gauff and possibly the mixed doubles, too. “I usually don’t struggle too much with switching. And I like how the courts play there. It might be easier than some other places we play on clay. When the weather is warm in Paris, it plays pretty true. There’s a good speed. There’s not a lot to get used to.”
Elena Rybakina, the 2022 Wimbledon champion from Kazakhstan, and a semi-finalist there again this month said: “It’s going to be the first time for me, going from grass to clay. It’s not easy. Physically, it’s not easy, [or] mentally.”
After the Olympics, there will be another quick turn-around onto the hard courts ahead of the US Open, which starts in late August, and is less than a month after the medals are awarded in France.“It’s awful for the schedule,” said Taylor Fritz, Pegula’s team-mate. “It makes absolutely no sense. It screws everything up, for sure.”
Tennis becomes a different sport, in some key ways, depending on where it’s being played. “You have to adapt to it. It’s going to be weird, obviously, going back on the clay quickly,” said Cam Norrie, who is representing Britain at the Olympics. “But we’re changing surface and changing variables all the time.”
Tennis was part of the Summer Olympic Games program from the inaugural 1896 Olympics, but was dropped after the 1924 Olympics held in Paris. After two appearances as a demonstration sport in 1968 and 1984 with an Under-21 age limit, tennis returned as a full medal sport at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul and has been played at every summer Games since then.
The surface used has varied, with hard courts prevailing at every Games since 1984, except for the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, which was played on clay, and the 2012 Olympics held in London on grass.
The home of the French Open has been transformed into an Olympic venue, much like the All England Club switched from its Wimbledon persona into the purple rendition that graced London 2012. Roland Garros will have 12 match courts in action, including the world-famous Court-Philippe Chatrier and Court-Suzanne Lenglen, both which have retractable roofs, guaranteeing play in all weather.
There are 5 draws at the Olympic Tennis Event – women’s and men’s singles and doubles, as well as mixed doubles. Draws are straight knockout, and matches are played as best of three tiebreak sets, with the doubles featuring a match tiebreak [to 10] at one set all. All the draws will be made on Thursday 25 July.
While a few of the big names will be absent, Alcaraz leads the men’s singles field and is the firm favorite to land the Gold medal. The women’s draw also has a clear favorite in Swiatek, who has won 3 straight French Open titles. Other players like Gauff, Krejcikova, and Collins are also ones to watch in the event.
