From the inaugural Summer Olympics until now, Australia has always had a steady presence at the Olympic Games.
At the 1896 Athens Olympic Games, Edwin Flack became Australia’s first Olympian to win a bronze medal in doubles tennis.
While the sport was dropped from the Olympics in 1924, it made a triumphant return in 1988 in Seoul. Since then, Australian athletes have won one gold, one silver, and four bronze medals in the men’s and women’s doubles tournaments as well as the mixed doubles and women’s singles tournaments.
With a quality crop of Aussie tennis talent taking to the courts of Roland Garros, something tells us that 2024 will be the year that we will add to our medal count.
What Australian tennis players are competing at the Olympics?
Nine Australian tennis players will compete at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. They include:
- Men’s singles: Alex de Minaur, Alexei Popyrin and Rinky Hijikata
- Women’s singles: Ajla Tomljanovic
- Men’s doubles teams: Matt Ebden & John Peers, Alex de Minaur & Alexei Popyrin
- Women’s doubles teams: Ellen Perez & Daria Saville, Ajla Tomljanovic & Olivia Gadecki
- Mixed doubles: TBC
Of this group, five players will make their debut while Ajla Tomljanovic, Ellen Perez, and Daria Saville return for their second Olympic Games. This will also be the third Olympic Games for bronze medallist John Peers.
Alex de Minaur is currently the highest-ranked player representing Australia at World No.6.
When is the Olympic tennis tournament?
The first matches at the Olympic tennis tournament for 2024 will commence at 12pm Paris local time (8pm AEST) on Saturday, July 27. As well as Roland Garros’ three prized stadium courts, matches will take place at an additional nine venues across Paris.
On Monday, July 29th, the mixed doubles tournament will then commence.
The Olympic tennis tournament will conclude on Sunday, August 4th. Across the five events, 15 Olympic medals will be awarded.
How does the Olympic tennis tournament work?
According to the Paris 2024 Organising Committee, approximately 170 tennis players will compete in the Olympic tennis tournament.
Per country, one team is permitted to compete in mixed doubles, a maximum of two teams are permitted to compete in gender-specific doubles and four players are allowed to play in the men’s and women’s singles events.
During the tournament, each round will feature a knockout draw. While singles matches will be best of three tie-break sets, in doubles, if the score becomes tied, a 10-point tiebreaker will take place to determine the winner.
From there, the semi-finalist winners will play against each other for silver and gold while the semi-finalist losers will play against one another for the bronze medals.
Which Australian tennis players have won Olympic medals?
- Edwin Flack: Men’s doubles, Athens, 1896 (bronze)
- Elizabeth Smylie and Wendy Turnbull: Women’s doubles, Seoul, 1988 (bronze)
- Rachel McQuillan and Nicole Bradtke: Men’s doubles, Barcelona, 1992 (bronze)
- Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde: Men’s doubles – Atlanta, 1996 (gold), and Sydney 2000 (silver)
- Alicia Molik: Women’s singles, Athens, 2004 (bronze)
- Ash Barty and John Peers: Mixed doubles, Tokyo, 2020 (bronze)
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