The History & Origin of Tennis at the Summer Olympics
Tennis was part of the Summer Olympic Games program in the inaugural 1896 Olympics, but was dropped after the 1924 Olympics due to disputes between International Lawn Tennis Federation and the International Olympic Committee over how to define amateur players.
After two appearances as a demonstration sport in 1968 and 1984, it returned as a full medal sport at the 1988 Summer Olympics open for all players regardless of age and status and has been played at every Summer Games since then.
Quick Basic Rules of the Game
- Scoring: Earn points by hitting the ball where your opponent can't return it.
- Serving: Serve diagonally across the net into the opponent's service box.
- Returning: Return the ball before it bounces twice on your side.
- Court: Divide the court into two halves with a net; aim to keep the ball inbounds.
- Rallies: Hit the ball back and forth until someone can't return it.
- Winning: Accumulate points to win games, games to win sets, and sets to win matches.
- Faults and Lets: Avoid faults (invalid serves) and lets (when the serve hits the net but lands in the service box).
- Foot Faults: Don't touch the baseline or step into the court before serving.
Learn a few skills from tennis star: Venus Williams
How to Score in a Tennis Match
The Point System includes:
- 0 Points = Love
- 1 Point = 15
- 2 Points = 30
- 3 Points = 40
- Tied Score = All
- 40 - 40 = Deuce
- Server wins deuce point = Add In
- Receiver wins deuce point = Add Out
Points: The basic unit of scoring is the point. Each rally begins with a serve, and point are won by hitting the ball so the opponent cannot return it within the boundaries of the court.
Games: A game consists of a sequence of points played with one player serving. To win a game, a player must win at least four points and have a two-point lead over their opponent.
Sets: A set is a series of games. A set is won by the first player to win at least six games and have a lead of at least two games over their opponent. If both players reach six games, a tiebreaker may be played, or they continue until one player achieves a two-game lead.
Event Categories
Each tournament has 5 different event categories:
Men's Singles
Men's Doubles
Women's Singles
Women's Doubles
Mixed Doubles
Men's Singles
Men's Singles in tennis is a category of the sport where individual male players compete against each other on the court. In Grand Slam tournaments and other prestigious events, the men typically play best-of-five sets, while in other tournaments it's often best-of-three sets. Men's singles is a highly competitive and physically demanding sport that requires skill, strategy, and athleticism.
Men's Doubles
Men's doubles in tennis is a category of the sport where teams of two male players compete against each other on the court. Unlike singles matches where it's one player against another, in men's doubles, each team consists of two players who work together to compete against another team of two players. Men's doubles matches are played on the same court size as singles matches. However, the court is wider in doubles matches due to the addition of the doubles alleys on each side of the court. These alleys are in play for doubles but not for singles. Men's doubles adds an extra layer of strategy and coordination compared to singles matches, as players must not only focus on their own performance but also work together with their partner to outplay the opposing team.
Women's Singles
Women's singles in tennis is a category of the sport where individual female players compete against each other on the court. To win the match, a player must win the specified number of sets according to the tournament's rules (usually best-of-three). Women's singles is a fiercely competitive sport that requires a graceful yet powerful amount of athleticism.
Women's Doubles
Women's doubles involves two teams, each consisting of two female players. These teams compete against each other on the court simultaneously. Like men's doubles, women's doubles play on the same size court as singles matches. However, the court is wider due to the addition of the doubles alleys on each side, which are in play during doubles matches but not during singles. Women's doubles in tennis is a collaborative and dynamic form of the sport where teamwork, communication, and strategic play are essential for success.
Mixed Doubles
Mixed doubles involves teams consisting of one male and one female player on each side of the net. This format adds an interesting dynamic as players of different genders collaborate on the court. Serving, court size, and points are all the same as Women's Doubles or Men's Doubles. Mixed doubles offers a unique and exciting variation of the sport, emphasizing teamwork, collaboration, and the dynamic interplay between male and female players on the court. Mixed doubles teams will be selected only from players that have already been accepted for the singles and/or doubles events and are therefore already on site.
Olympic Qualification
Singles Qualification: The singles draws will include 64 players for each competition. The rankings determine 56 of those (Direct Acceptances), respecting the maximum quota of four per NOC. France has one secured spot per event as the host country, but won't use it if French athletes are already qualified. Six other quotas are ITF Places, and another is a universality place. ITF Places are given to winners or finalists of continental competitions in the Americas (men's and women's singles finalists at the 2023 Pan-American Games), in Asia (men's and women's singles champions at the 2022 Asian Games) and Africa (men's and women's singles champions at the 2023 African Games). The other two ITF Places are reserved for Olympic or Grand Slam singles champions who didn't qualify through other criteria, provided they are in the singles top 400 and don't make their NOC exceed their maximum quota.
Doubles Qualification: Each doubles event features 32 teams, two maximum per NOC. The first to qualify are the top 10 players of the ATP and WTA doubles rankings, as long as they have an available partner from the same NOC inside the top 300 of any rankings, and the nomination of the partner doesn't make the NOC exceed their maximum quota. After that, quotas are distributed using the combined ranking of the partners. Finally, the priority goes to teams who already have players qualified for a singles event.
Mixed Doubles Qualification: Only athletes who are already qualified for singles or doubles can take part in one of the 16 mixed doubles teams, with one team per NOC allowed. Qualification is decided by the combined ranking of the partners.
Key Players to look for in the Summer Games
Novak Djokovic, Belinda Bencic, Carlos Alcatraz, Nicolas Mahut & Pierre-Hugues Herbert, Jannik Sinner, and Coco Gauff