Who’s qualified for tennis at the Paris 2024 Olympics? When does it start? Is Novak Djokovic playing? What’s the format? – Eurosport

The tennis event at the 2024 Paris Olympics will see a total of five gold medals up for grabs.

Among those looking to win gold will be Italy’s Jannik Sinner, Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz, Poland’s Iga Swiatek, and USA’s Coco Gauff.

All-time greats Rafael Nadal (Spain) and Andy Murray (Great Britain) look set to play their final Olympic Games.

When does the tennis event at the Paris 2024 Olympics start? Who’s qualified and playing? What’s the schedule? And what’s the format?

The Olympic tennis event starts on July 27 and finishes on August 4.

It will be played on clay at Roland-Garros, the home of the French Open.

The tennis event falls two weeks after Wimbledon, which is played on grass, and three weeks before the US Open on hard courts.

The cut-off date for qualification via ranking was on June 10, the day after the French Open finished.

The 56 highest-ranked singles players on the ATP and WTA tours on June 10 have been offered places, with a maximum of four per country.

The official entry lists will not be confirmed by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) until July 4, but several federations have announced their teams.

New men’s world No. 1 Jannik Sinner will represent Italy in singles and men’s doubles alongside Lorenzo Musetti. French Open runner-up Jasmine Paolini will also play singles and doubles for Italy.

Nadal is using his protected ranking to play at likely his final Olympics.

Novak Djokovic’s participation at the Games for Serbia is uncertain after he underwent knee surgery following the French Open.

At the age of 37 this is likely to be Djokovic’s last chance to win a much-desired gold medal.

Holger Rune, Caroline Wozniacki and Clara Tauson have been named in Denmark’s team, while Naomi Osaka and Kei Nishikori will represent Japan.

Coco Gauff, Jessica Pegula, Danielle Collins and Madison Keys look set to represent USA in the women’s singles.

World No. 1 Iga Swiatek is expected to play for Poland, but world No. 10 Ons Jabeur will not play for Tunisia.

“After consulting with my medical team regarding attending the Olympics in Paris, we have decided that the quick change of surface and the body’s adaptation required would put my knee at risk and jeopardise the rest of my season,” Jabeur posted on social media.

“I have always loved representing my country in any competition. However, I must listen to my body and follow my medical team’s advice.”

Great Britain have announced their tennis line-up for the Games.

Emma Raducanu, as revealed by GB’s head of Olympics tennis Ian Bates, has turned down the chance of a wild card, offered to former major champions.

“I have had various conversations with Emma over the last couple of weeks and a slightly longer period where it’s very clear how much being part of a British team at an Olympics would mean to her,” said Bates.

“I think she feels this isn’t going to be the right timing for her for this summer.

“She’s hopefully got many Olympics ahead of her. I’m very comfortable with the decision that she’s made.”

Neal Skupski and Joe Salisbury will feature in the men’s doubles.

Some individual athletes from Russia and Belarus have been permitted to compete in Paris despite the ongoing war in Ukraine.

Daniil Medvedev, Andrey Rublev and Daria Kasatkina could be among those competing from Russia and Belarus.

However, world No. 3 Aryna Sabalenka has said she won’t be playing in Paris due to the physical demands of switching from grass back to clay.

“It’s too much for the scheduling. I made the decision to take care of my health. It’s too much of changing the surface.”

The draw for the tennis event at the Paris 2024 Olympics takes place on Thursday, July 25 at 10am UK time.

The opening ceremony for the Games is on Friday, July 26 and the first day of the tennis event will follow on Saturday, July 27.

The singles finals will be held on the weekend of August 3.

Play will start at 11am UK time every day, with Court Philippe-Chatrier also having a session beginning at 6pm UK time from July 27 to August 2.

Paris 2024 Olympics tennis schedule

• Thursday, July 25: Draw
• Saturday, July 27: Men’s and women’s singles first round, men’s and women’s doubles first round
• Sunday, July 28: Men’s and women’s singles first round, men’s and women’s doubles first round
• Monday, July 29: Men’s and women’s singles second round, men’s and women’s doubles second round, mixed doubles first round
• Tuesday, July 30: Men’s singles second round, women’s singles third round, men’s doubles quarter-finals, women’s doubles second round and quarter-finals, mixed doubles first round
• Wednesday, July 31: Men’s singles third round, women’s singles quarter-finals, men’s doubles semi-finals, women’s doubles quarter-finals, mixed doubles quarter-finals
• Thursday, August 1: Men’s singles quarter-finals, women’s singles semi-finals, women’s doubles semi-finals, mixed doubles semi-finals
• Friday, August 2: Men’s singles semi-finals, women’s singles bronze medal match, men’s doubles bronze medal match, mixed doubles bronze medal match, mixed doubles final
• Saturday, August 3: Women’s singles final, men’s singles bronze medal match, men’s doubles final
• Sunday, August 4: Men’s singles final, women’s doubles bronze medal match, women’s doubles final

The men’s and women’s singles will both be 64-player draws.

The men’s and women’s doubles will each be 32 teams and mixed doubles will be 16 teams.

All singles matches are best-of-three sets with a seven-point tie-breaker in the third set. The doubles matches are also best-of-three sets but a match tie-break will be contested instead of a third set.

There are no ranking points on offer for players at the Olympics.

Belinda Bencic won gold for Switzerland at Tokyo 2021 while Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova triumphed for Czech Republic in the women’s doubles.

Germany’s Alexander Zverev won the men’s singles event and Croatia’s Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic took doubles gold.

The mixed doubles was won by Russian pair Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Andrey Rublev.