3 dark horses to win the Olympic gold in men's singles in tennis ft. Daniil Medvedev
A total of 64 male tennis players will battle for Olympic glory on the red clay of Paris at the 2024 Games starting on July 26. As with any other event, some players are the odds-on favorites to win the title while others might have an outside chance of making it to the podium.
Jannik Sinner, Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz are the top three seeds at the men's singles event in the French capital and therefore are the top three favorites to pick the title. Here's a look at three dark horses who have the skill to surpass conservative pre-tournament expectations at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
#3 Casper Ruud
Casper Ruud has been one of the most prolific performers on the red clay in men's tennis over the last two to three years. The Norwegian's style of play suits the surface and his results are proof.
Ruud made it to successive finals of the French Open in 2022 and 2023, losing to the legends of the game, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, respectively, and to the semifinals at Roland-Garros this year, where he has a 23-7 overall win-loss record. He has a 74% win ratio on clay and 11 of his 12 ATP titles have come on the surface.
This year too, the World No. 8 made it to three such finals, winning in Barcelona over Stefanos Tsitsipas and Geneva over Tomas Machac. Even though as per ats.io the Norwegian is the sixth favorite to win the title at Paris 2024 with odds of +1200, Ruud's achievements on clay make him a formidable contender for the gold medal.
#2 Stefanos Tsitsipas
Former World No. 3 Stefanos Tsitsipas is another dark horse for capturing the gold medal at this year's Olympics. The Greek's form was on the decline last year but he has managed to turn it around in 2024. He is a former finalist at Roland-Garros, at the 2021 French Open, and has made it to successive quarterfinals of the Major for the last two years. He lost to Carlos Alcaraz both times.
The current World No. 12 has an impressive resume on clay - a 77% win ratio on the surface, which makes it his best statistically, and five titles, one of which came this year when he defeated Casper Ruud in the final of the Monte-Carlo Masters.
Tsitsipas has an overall record of 26-8 at Roland-Garros. The fact that he is a former top-3 player and has the experience of playing on the Parisian clay makes the Greek a firm favorite even though his odds of +2000 place him seventh-favorite for the gold.
#1 Daniil Medvedev
World No. 5 Daniil Medvedev is one of the most prominent dark horses for the 2024 Paris Olympics as his betting odds of +2500 have him as the ninth favorite. A crucial factor in not considering the Russian as an outright favorite is his poor showing on clay, with a career win ratio of 55%.
Medvedev has not made it to any clay-court final in 2024. His only such title so far came at last year's Italian Open where he defeated Holger Rune in the final. Moreover, he has made it to the quarterfinals of the French Open only once in 2021, where he lost to Stefanos Tsitsipas. Overall he has a meagre record of 10-8 at Roland-Garros.
However, Medvedev can be considered a dark horse for the Games despite his record on clay because he has achieved success on the Grand Slam stage and also reached the top spot on the ATP Rankings for a brief period. He has played in multiple Grand Slam finals and has the experience to bring out his best performance on big stages. Therefore the Russian has a fighting chance at capturing the gold at the 2024 Paris Olympics.