What to know about Olympic tennis as Coco Gauff, Emma Navarro compete

The Olympic tennis tournament begins this weekend on the clay courts of Roland Garros. Here’s what you need to know about Tennis at the Paris Games.

When does the Olympic tennis tournament take place?

The Olympic tennis tournament begins Saturday, July 27, and ends on Sunday, Aug. 4, when the men’s singles gold medal will be determined. The women’s singles gold medal match is Aug. 3.

Where does the Olympic tennis tournament take place?

Roland Garros, site of the clay-court French Open grand slam tournament, will host the Olympic tennis tournament.

What is the Olympic tennis format?

The Olympic tennis tournaments consist of five events: men’s singles and doubles, women’s singles and doubles, and mixed doubles. The singles competitions feature 64 players in a single-elimination tournament, while the doubles events feature 32 pairs and the mixed doubles 16.

All singles matches are best-of-three sets with a standard tiebreaker in every set. If doubles matches are not decided after the second set, a first-to-10-points tiebreaker will decide the match instead of a third set.

How do players qualify for the Olympic tennis tournament?

The Olympic singles competition is filled with players based on WTA and ATP rankings. Fifty-six players in both men’s and women’s singles are chosen based on the rankings as of June 10, with each nation allowed a maximum of four players. Six of the eight remaining spots are reserved for nations with no other qualified players. One spot is reserved for host France, and another is reserved for either the defending Olympic singles champion or most recent Grand Slam winner.

Who are the top players in the Olympic tennis tournament?

- Eleven Americans will compete in Olympic tennis. World No. 2 Coco Gauff, No. 6 Jessica Pegula, No. 9 Danielle Collins and No. 15 Emma Navarro will play women’s singles, while Gauff/Pegula and Collins/Desirae Krawczyk will compete in women’s doubles. On the men’s side, No. 11 Taylor Fritz, No. 13 Tommy Paul, No. 128 Chris Eubanks and No. 46 Marcos Giron will play singles, while Fritz/Paul and Rajeev Ram/Austin Krajicek will play doubles.

- No. 2 Novak Djokovic of Serbia, who has won three French Open titles at Roland Garros, will compete in Olympic men’s singles for the fifth time despite the torn meniscus he suffered at this year’s French Open. Djokovic has found Olympic success elusive, winning only a bronze medal in 2008.

- Rafael Nadal, who has won the French Open at Roland Garros a record 14 times, will team with fellow Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz, this year’s French Open and Wimbledon singles champion, in Olympic men’s doubles.

[Nadal says he’s not sure he’ll play singles after winning in doubles with Alcaraz at Paris Olympics]

- World No. 1 Jannik Sinner of Italy withdrew on Wednesday due to tonsillitis.

- Iga Swiatek, the world’s top-ranked women’s player from Poland, is back at the Olympics for the second time after her second-round exit at the 2020 Tokyo Games.

- Naomi Osaka, who in 2021 became the first tennis player to light the Olympic cauldron at the Opening Ceremonies of the Tokyo Games, will compete for Japan.

- Aryna Sabalenka, the world’s third-ranked women’s player from Belarus and a two-time Grand Slam champion, is skipping the Olympics, citing her heavy schedule and the clay-court surface.

- Ons Jabeur of Tunisia also will skip the Olympics, like Sabalenka citing the schedule and the clay-court surface. The world No. 16 has lost in the first round in each of the past three Olympics.

Who are the defending Olympic tennis medalists?

Alexander Zverev of Germany defeated Karen Khachanov of the Russian Olympic Committee team to win men’s gold in Tokyo three years ago. Spain’s Pablo Carreño Busta defeated Serbia’s Novak Djokovic for the bronze medal. In women’s singles, Belinda Bencic of Switzerland defeated Marketa Vondrousova of the Czech Republic for the gold medal, while Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina defeated Kazakhstan’s Elena Rybakina for the bronze.

Croatia’s Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic won men’s doubles gold, Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic won gold in women’s doubles, and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Andrey Rublev of the Russian Olympic Committee team were gold medalists in mixed doubles.

Zverev, Mektic/Pavic and Krejcikova/Siniakova will return to defend their gold medals.

What is the schedule for tennis at the Paris Olympics?

July 27: Men’s and women’s singles, men’s and women’s doubles, first round.

July 28: Men’s and women’s singles, men’s and women’s doubles, mixed doubles, first round.

July 29: Men’s and women’s singles, men’s and women’s doubles second round; mixed doubles first round.

July 30: Men’s singles, women’s doubles, mixed doubles second round; women’s singles third round.

July 31: Women’s singles and doubles, mixed quarterfinals; men’s doubles semifinals; men’s singles third round.

Aug. 1: Men’s singles quarters; women’s singles and doubles, mixed doubles semifinals.

Aug. 2: Men’s singles semifinals; women’s singles, men’s doubles, mixed doubles bronze matches; mixed doubles gold match.

Aug. 3: Men’s singles bronze match; women’s singles and men’s doubles gold matches.

Aug. 4: Women’s doubles bronze match; Men’s singles and women’s doubles gold matches.