26 July 2024 | Tennis West
The nine Australian tennis players at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games have discovered their first-round opponents.
The tennis draws for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games have been determined.
The men’s singles draw will now feature four Australians making their Olympic debut, including No.5 seed Alex de Minaur, Alexei Popyrin, Rinky Hijikata and Matt Ebden.
Alex de Minaur is drawn against Germany’s Jan-Lennard Stuff. De Minaur defeated the German in the second round of the French Open in May and leads their head-to-head 4-2.
World No.46 Alexei Popyrin will face No.16 seed Nicolas Jarry, Chile’s flagbearer at the Opening Ceremony in his Olympic debut.
Sydney’s Rinky Hijikata will go up against world No.4 Daniil Medvedev.
And Ebden – replacing Holger Rune, who withdrew from singles due to a wrist injury – will meet world No.1 Novak Djokovic.
Ajla Tomljanovic returns to the Olympics in the women’s singles draw when she faces the No.2 seed Coco Gauff of USA in the first round.
Another late inclusion to the singles draw, Daria Saville replaces Sara Errani, and will face No.6 seed Qinwen Zheng.
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In the men’s doubles, Ebden pairs with three-time Olympian John Peers, who equals the secondmost Olympic appearances for an Australian men’s tennis player. They face Lebanon’s Hady Habib and Benjamin Hassan.
De Minaur and Popyrin will meet No.4 seeds Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram from the United States in the other half of the draw.
In the women’s doubles, top 10 women’s doubles player Ellen Perez and Daria Saville face top seeds Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula.
Australia’s second women’s doubles pair will see Tomljanovic team up with the Gold Coast’s Olivia Gadecki when they meet Mirra Andreeva and Diana Shnaider (AIN) in their opening match.
No.2 seeds Matt Ebden and Ellen Perez will play Sara Sorribes Tormo and Marcel Granollers in the mixed doubles opening round.
Singles matches are best-of-three tiebreak sets. In doubles, if the score is tied at one set all, a 10-point tiebreaker will be played to determine the winner.
In all events, the semifinal winners play to decide the gold and silver medals and the semifinal losers play for the bronze.
> VIEW: Full Paris 2024 Olympic tennis event draws
PARIS 2024 OLYMPIC GAMES
FIRST ROUND
Men’s singles
[5] Alex de Minaur (AUS) v Jan-Lennard Struff (GER)
Alexei Popyrin (AUS) v [16] Nicolas Jarry (CHI)
Rinky Hijikata (AUS) v [4] Daniil Medvedev (ANI)
Matt Ebden (AUS) v [1] Novak Djokovic (SRB)
Women’s singles
Ajla Tomljanovic (AUS) vs [2] Coco Gauff (USA)
Daria Saville (AUS) vs Qinwen Zheng [6] (CHN)
Men’s doubles
Matt Ebden/John Peers (AUS) vs Hady Habib/Benjamin Hassan (LBN)
Alex de Minaur/Alexei Popyrin (AUS) vs [4] Austin Krajicek/Rajeev Ram (USA)
Women’s doubles
Ellen Perez/Daria Saville (AUS) vs [1] Coco Gauff/Jessica Pegula (USA)
Ajla Tomljanovic/Olivia Gadecki (AUS) vs Mirra Andreeva/Diana Shnaider (AIN)
Mixed doubles
Matt Ebden/Ellen Perez (AUS) vs Sara Sorribes Tormo/Marcel Granollers (ESP)