Where is tennis going to be played during the Paris Olympics 2024? All you need to know
The 2024 Paris Olympic Games gets underway on Friday, July 26. The tennis event at the quadrennial showpiece will commence on Saturday, July 27.
Tennis at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games will take place on the red clay of Roland Garros. Usually, tennis is played on hard courts at the Olympics. However, there have been a few exceptions, too. For example, tennis at the 2012 Olympics in London was played on the grass of Wimbledon.
Along with tennis and wheelchair tennis, the boxing and sitting volleyball competitions of the Olympics will also be held at Roland Garros this year.
Roland Garros is famous for hosting the French Open:
French Open, which is the only Grand Slam played on clay, is held at Roland Garros every year. Hence, it is one of the most iconic venues for tennis in the world. The stadium is named after a famous French aviator and was built almost a century ago, in 1928.
The stadium is located on the edge of Bois de Boulogne in Paris and is also close to Parc des Princes — the football stadium and home ground of the French club Paris Saint-Germain (PSG).
The venue will be ideal for the Paris Olympics 2024:
One cannot think of a better venue for an Olympic tennis event than Roland Garros. It is spread over a huge area of 12 hectares and has 18 clay courts in it. Moreover, floodlights and a retractable roof have been installed at the Philippe Chatrier court — which is the center-court of Roland Garros — in the recent past, which allows matches to be played at night.
There are two more main courts at the venue, named after Simonne Mathieu and Suzanne Lenglen, respectively. The Philippe Chatrier court can accommodate almost 15,000 spectators, while the Simonne-Mathieu can seat almost 5000 people.
The finals, semifinals, and bronze medal matches of men's and women's singles of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games will be played at Philippe Chatrier. However, some other important matches, such as the men's doubles semifinals, will be played at Suzanne Lenglen.
With past champions such as Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic set to take part, and the current French Open winner Carlos Alcaraz also in the fray, we can expect some exciting tennis action at Roland Garros this year. It remains to be seen whether Djokovic can win his first Olympic gold there or if Nadal will continue his love affair with the venue, where he has won 14 French Open titles.