Tennis 2024 Paris Olympics Review

Men’s Singles

The draw produced the intriguing possibility of a Novak Djokovic (Serbia) vs Rafael Nadal (Spain) second-round matchup, and that came to fruition, but Djokovic sealed a comfortable straight-sets victory and progressed to the semi-finals without dropping a set. In the second quarter, Lorenzo Mussetti (Italy) upset both Taylor Fritz (United States) and Alexander Zverev (Germany) to reach the semi-final. Felix Auger Aliassime (Canada) also produced upsets, defeating Daniil Medvedev (Russia) and Casper Ruud (Norway) to make the semi-final, where he came up against Carlos Alcaraz (Spain). The semi-finals saw straight sets victories for the two favourites setting up a Roland Garros rematch. In the bronze medal matchup, Auger Aliassime fell in three sets with too many unforced errors. Djokovic won two tiebreaks in an enthralling match to take the gold medal and complete the career golden slam. 

🥇Novak Djokovic 🇷🇸

🥈Carlos Alcaraz 🇪🇸

🥉Lorenzo Musetti 🇮🇹

Prediction analysis; 1 Medalist correct, 1 perfect prediction. 

I fancied Tsitsipas to do well before the draw, but patiently my faith in Djokovic was rewarded. Given his motivation and less game time, I felt confident even when Alcaraz made it through to the final. I hadn’t expected the Spaniard to do well given his heavy workload over recent months but his talent is just so large. I tried to go for an outsider to take bronze and went for the wrong one but warned Musetti is a danger to Jarry. 

Men’s Doubles

Carreno Busta/Granollers (Spain) upset the number one seeds Bolelli/Vavassori (Italy) in the first round. The story of the first round, was Evans/Murray (Great Britain) who were down 2-6 2-4 and saved five match points in what could have been Murray's final match. They repeated the feat in the following round saving two match points but finally, Fritz/Paul (United States) ended the fairytale in the quarter-finals. Another headline pairing was the clay kings from Spain, Nadal/Alcaraz (Spain). They fell in the quarter-finals to Krajicek/Ram (United States), who went onto the gold medal matchup, coming up against Ebden/Peers (Australia) who reached the final without losing a set. The final was incredibly tight with the Australians coming back after losing the first set tiebreak, to win the second. In the super tie-break, they scored the 10-8 victory to seal gold. Fritz/Paul took bronze with a straight-set victory. 

🥇Matthew Ebden/Jon Peers 🇦🇺

🥈Austin Krajicek/Rajeev Ram 🇺🇸

🥉Taylor Fritz/Tommy Paul 🇺🇸

Prediction analysis; 0 Medalists correct

I pointed out that Alcaraz/Nadal were overrated as a doubles pairing and the final was between two pairs which have far greater doubles pedigree.

Women’s Singles 

The biggest match of the first round came as Angelique Kerber (Germany) defeated Naomi Osaka (Japan) in what Kerber confirmed would be her last tournament. She eventually went out in the quarter-finals to Qinwen Zheng (China). Following that up, Zheng beat the Queen of Roland Garros, Iga Swiatek (Poland). In the other half of the draw, Anna Karolina Schmiedlova (Slovakia) beat three seeds to make the semi-finals where she came up against Donna Vekic (Croatia) who defeated Coco Gauff (United States) in a match that featured a controversial umpire call. It was a step too far for Schmiedlova, as she’d lose in straight sets to Vekic. It was the same story in the third-place play-off. Zheng took the final in straight sets 6-2 6-3. 

🥇Qinwen Zheng 🇨🇳 

🥈Donna Vekic 🇭🇷

🥉Iga Swiatek 🇵🇱

Prediction analysis; 1 Medalist correct

This was one of the shocks of the Olympics for me. Swiatek has been so dominant at Roland Garros normally. Neither Zheng nor Vekic were mentioned as possible contenders. 

Women’s Doubles

The top seeds Gauff/Pegula (United States) were beaten by Muchova/Noskova (Czech Republic) in a tiebreak. The Czech pair went on to make the semi-finals against Errani/Paolini (Italy). In the bottom half, Bucsa/Sorribes Torno (Spain) advanced through the top quarter as Collins/Krawczyk (United States) were eliminated before the seeds could clash. Andreeva/Shnaider (Russia) beat two seeded pairs in straight sets to make the semi-final. Both semi-finals were won in straight sets by the Italian and Russian duos. In the bronze medal matchup, the Czech pair commited too many unforced errors to allow Spain to take bronze. The Italians secured gold, winning a super-tiebreak. 

🥇Sara Errani/Jessica Paolini 🇮🇹

🥈Mirra Andreeva/Diana Shnaider 🇷🇺

🥉Cristina Bucsa/Sara Sorribes Torno 🇪🇸

Prediction analysis; 1 Medalist correct

I did expect the Italians to go well and would have picked them over the Russian team in the final. I mentioned the Spanish pair as threats and should have maybe given more credence to the proven form as a pairing. 

Mixed Doubles 

By the semi-finals, all four seeded teams had been eliminated. Siegmund/Zverev (Germany) exited in round one to Siniakova/Machac (Czechia) while Sakkari/Tsitsipas (Greece) lost to Schuurs/Kolhoof (Netherlands). Perez/Ebden (Australia) lost in the quarter-final to Wang/Zhang (China) whilst Gauff/Fritz (United States) lost to Dabrowski/Auger-Aliassime (Canada). The Czech pair won in straight sets to make the final and the Chinese duo beat Netherlands in a super tie-break to make the final. Canada won the bronze medal match-up. In the final, the Czech pair took the victory 10-8 in a super tie-break 

🥇Katerina Siniakova/Tomas Machac 🇨🇿

🥈Wang Xinyu/Zhang Zhizhen 🇨🇳

🥉Gabriela Dabrowski/Felix Auger-Aliassime 🇨🇦

Prediction analysis; 0 Medallists correct  

Of all the tennis events, this always feels the toughest to predict.