There’s an extra chance for eternal glory between Wimbledon and the U.S. Open this summer, but there’s something on the line that players can’t win at a Grand Slam—Olympic gold.
The famed Roland Garros, unofficially known as the French Open, will add Olympic rings to its iconic clay courts as the tennis host of the 2024 Paris Olympics. Olympic tennis festivities will begin one day after the opening ceremony of the Games, which is on Friday, July 26. Medal events will include men’s singles, men’s doubles, women’s singles, women’s doubles and mixed doubles.
Each of the five star-studded events involve single-elimination tournaments. Men’s and women’s singles will both feature 64 competitors (with a limit of four singles players per gender per country), while men’s and women doubles draws will include 32 teams each. Seedings are based on international rankings.
All tennis matches in Paris will be best-of-three sets with a standard tie-break in every set.
Roland-Garros features 18 clay courts, and the main court—Philippe-Chatrier Court—will serve as 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 Games for decades until its comeback 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 this time around in Paris.
How to Watch Olympic Men’s 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 how the tennis calendar currently looks, with start times, on the men’s side:
Saturday, July 27
- 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 31
- Men’s singles third round, 6 a.m. ET
- Men’s doubles semifinals, 7:45 a.m. and 8:48 a.m. ET
- Men’s singles third round, 1 p.m. ET
Thursday, August 1
- Men’s singles quarterfinals, 6 a.m., 7:40 a.m. and 1 p.m. 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 3
- Men’s singles bronze medal match, 6 a.m. ET
- Men’s doubles gold medal match, 11 a.m. ET
Sunday, August 4
- Men’s singles gold medal match, 8:30 a.m. 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! beginning on July 27. Fans can also stream tennis on mobile, tablet or connected TV devices via the free-to-download Peacock, NBC and NBC Olympics apps.
Viewers with Peacock, after subscribing and logging in, can watch every event in Paris live and are advised to download the app—or go to PeacockTV.com/Olympics in a web browser—then find the Olympics section. NBC said that viewers can also authenticate with their cable subscription, allowing them to watch live at NBC.com and the network’s other Olympic platforms.
NBCOlympics.com offers court-specific streams and is home to the event replay hub.
Men’s Tennis Olympic Names to Know
Alexander Zverev of Germany heads to Paris with a chance to stand atop the Olympic podium yet again after taking home the gold medal in men’s singles at the 2020 Tokyo Games.
Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz, at only 21 years old, is among the other favorites and won the two Slams preceding the Games—including his first win at the French Open and a second-straight crown at Wimbledon. Alcaraz has won four of the last seven slam events he has entered, according to ESPN.
Italy’s Jannik Sinner is this year’s Australian Open winner who became the No. 1 men’s player in the world for the first time in June, will also be in Paris. He is 0-2 historically in matches against Alcaraz, however.
And count previous singles gold-medalists Rafael Nadal (Spain), whose 112-4 all-time record and 14 French Open titles at Roland Garros suggest another deep run could 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 play, as other familiar names in the competition pool.
Paris will mark the final Olympic appearances for both legends.
Speaking of an Olympics finale, this also marks the fifth—and potentially final—Games for superstar Novak Djokovic (Serbia), who at 37 is still seeking an 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. As far as doubles, the 2020 gold-winning pair of Mate Pavić and Nikola Mektić from Croatia will be back seeking to repeat. A duo of Alcaraz and Nadal, however, will be among the doubles teams to have something to say about that.
Uncommon Knowledge
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