3 biggest US tennis players missing from Paris Olympics 2024 ft. Frances Tiafoe
Tennis at the Paris Olympics 2024 comes with its fair share of excitement and action, with legends like Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray playing at what might be their last Olympic event. However, with regard to the participation of the United States, there are some well-known names that are absent from the US tennis team.
Be it injuries or the desire to focus on individual tournaments, a few prominent names from the international tennis arena chose to skip playing for their country at this quadrennial event.
Let us look at the three most important American tennis players who will not be competing in the 2024 Paris Olympics.
#3 Madison Keys
Former World No. 7 Madison Keys is amongst the list of tennis players who withdrew their names from the US tennis team due to health concerns and the pressure associated with the same.
Keys reached the semifinals in the 2016 Rio Olympics and hence, opting out of the upcoming edition of the Olympics was not the easiest decision for the American.
Her decision to pull out of the marquee event was influenced by the surface's shift from clay to grass and back again, as well as her struggles with injuries at the start of the season. Keys stated that taking a step back seemed to be the best decision.
"It was a really tough decision, but having missed the beginning of the season due to injury and it being clay and then grass and clay straight into hard and obviously I had a really big hard court season last year, so there’s also the kind of the pressure pending that as well. It just felt like the best decision given my many, many years on tour," she said (via Tennis Infinity).
Choosing to prioritise herself and take minimal risks in terms of the hard-court season that follows the Olympics, Keys decided to play it safe.
"It was just the kind of the safest decision for me to stay healthy and try to be able to play the rest of the season. And I think that it’s always kind of a bummer when that’s just kind of how things play out," she explained.
She added, "And it unfortunately was in a very different time zone, on a different surface, so it was not an easy decision to make."
#2 Ben Shelton
In March 2024, tennis prodigy Ben Shelton expressed disinterest in competing at the Paris Olympics, citing his focus on the hard-court season and the challenging surface transitions as primary reasons.
He said (via Tennis World USA):
"I've thought about it a lot. At the moment I can say that I'm quite inclined not to go this year, in case I qualify. I think they fit into the tennis schedule in a complicated way."
He added (via Tennis Gazette), "I want to prepare and really get ready for the U.S. Open. Having to go back to Europe to play on clay, a different surface, it messes up a few lead-up tournaments to the U.S. Open.”
Having been a part of the circuit for the last two years, Shelton has yet to make his debut at the Olympics.
#1 Frances Tiafoe
Former World No.10 Frances Tiafoe joined his compatriots Shelton and Keys as an absentee from the tennis team representing the USA at the Paris Olympics this year.
Joining other prominent tennis figures like Aryna Sabalenka and Emma Raducanu, Tiafoe's decision is influenced by the tournament's scheduling and his desire to concentrate on hard court play post-Olympics.
Tiafoe was a part of the tennis contingent that represented the US at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and recently made headlines for giving tough competition to the defending and eventual champion Carlos Alcaraz at Wimbledon.
Talking about his decision to skip the Olympics, Tiafoe told British journalist James Gray that he did not wish to go back to playing on clay.
"It's insignificant to what I'm trying to do going through to the US Open. I love my country, but I think I gotta think about myself," he stated.
With the Olympics already underway, the US tennis team is all set, with star players like Coco Gauff, Jessica Pegula, Taylor Fritz and Danielle Collins, among others, representing the country across all categories.