Olympics Tennis Summary: Everything That Happened at All Five Events in Paris

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After nine days of jam-packed matches across five different events, tennis has come to a conclusion at the 2024 Paris Olympics. For those who are missing the action already, we’ve broken down all of the best bits from the Olympics tennis into one easy to read summary.

From Andy Murray retiring, to Iga Swiatek getting stunned, China punching above their weight, Novak Djokovic achieving his life-long dream and plenty of American women getting grumpy…

Results Summary: Who Won Gold, Silver and Bronze?

There were some unforgettable moments at the Olympics tennis in Paris, here’s a quick rundown of how each event unfolded.

Men’s Singles

1. Novak Djokovic – gold medal
2. Carlos Alcaraz – silver medal
3. Lorenzo Musetti – bronze medal

The men’s singles event suffered an upset before it even began, with world No 1 Jannik Sinner withdrawing due to injury. From that moment on, fans had their eyes on one match up: Djokovic vs Alcaraz in the final. The pair had met in the final of Wimbledon, and sitting on opposite sides of the draw, were due to face each other again for gold.

But first, Djokovic had to see off a blockbusting encounter with Rafael Nadal, with the two meeting for the 60th time in the second round of the men’s singles event. Unfortunately the clash did not live up to its hype, with Djokovic swatting his old rival aside, 6-1, 6-4.

Elsewhere in the draw, other big names moved through their opening rounds as well, setting a reasonably predictable quarter-final line up with the only surprises being Lorenzo Musetti (who again defeated Taylor Fritz) and Felix Auger-Aliassime (who found form to knock out No 4 seed Daniil Medvedev).

In the quarter-finals, a pair of upsets occurred, as Musetti and Auger-Aliassime continuing to punch above their weight. The underdogs took out 2020 gold medallist Alexander Zverev and two-time French Open finalist Casper Ruud, ensuring one of them would bag a medal.

Djokovic and Alcaraz remained on a collision course for a rematch of their Wimbledon final, however. The match came to fruition when they both saw off their semi-final opponents with ease, setting the gold medal clash the tennis world was waiting for.

With Djokovic seeking the only achievement in tennis that had eluded him for two decades, the Serbian was a heavy underdog at bookmakers heading into his match against Alcaraz. Cometh the hour, cometh the man, however, as the 24-time Grand Slam champion played his best match of the season to defeat Alcaraz in two brilliant tiebreaker sets and claim a long-awaited gold medal.

Women’s Singles

1. Qinwen Zheng – gold medal
2. Donna Vekic – silver medal
3. Iga Swiatek – bronze medal

Over in the women’s singles, all eyes were on Iga Swiatek. She came to Paris as the top seed, riding a 21-match winning streak at Roland-Garros and a 19-match run on clay in 2024. The Pole was largely expected to waltz her way to a gold medal at the Olympics, particularly considering rivals Aryna Sabalenka and Elena Rybakina withdrew ahead of the event beginning.

But that’s not how this one unfolded. Swiatek was stunned by China’s Qinwen Zheng in the semi-finals, losing in straight sets to send her Olympics dreams up in flames. Other betting favorites Coco Gauff, Mirra Andreeva, Naomi Osaka and Jasmine Paolini all fell early as well, blowing the women’s event wide open.

Out of nowhere, Anna Schmiedlova found form, ousting both Wimbledon finalists (Paolini and Barbora Krejcikova) in consecutive matches to make the semi-finals. Donna Vekic continued her Wimbledon form though, tearing through her section of the draw to make the final.

It was Swiatek-slayer Zheng who had the last laugh, however, easily seeing off Vekic 6-2, 6-3 to win China’s first-ever gold medal in singles at the Olympics.

Men’s Doubles

1. Matthew Ebden and John Peers – gold medal
2. Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram – silver medal
3. Taylor Fritz and Tommy Paul – bronze medal

Wind back the clock 10 days, and the tennis world was abuzz with talk of ‘Nadalcaraz’–the star-studded duo consisting of Nadal and Alcaraz in the men’s doubles. While the Spaniards did keep crowds entertained for several rounds, this event was ultimately dominated by doubles specialists, as expected.

Nadal and Alcaraz fell to Krajicek and Ram in the quarter-finals, the same stage which Andy Murray and Dan Evans made it to. The Brit was playing in his last-ever tennis tournament, and showed brilliant fighting spirit to prolong his career just that little bit longer. In both the first and second rounds, Murray and Evans faced match points but fought back to prevail. 

Singles stars Taylor Fritz and Tommy Paul ended the Brits runs and sent Murray into retirement, but they too would have their time in Paris ended soon after. Matthew Ebden and John Peers quietly worked their way through the draw, setting up a showdown with Krajicek and Ram in the final. The unseeded Aussies upset their American opponents in the gold medal match, claiming Australia’s first gold in tennis since 1996.

Women’s Doubles

1. Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini – gold medal
2. Mirra Andreeva and Diana Shnaider – silver medal
3. Cristina Bucsa and Sara Sorribes Tormo – bronze medal

The women’s doubles event also saw history made, with Italy claiming their first gold medal in tennis thanks to Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini. The No 3 seeds were dominant through the tournament, only getting tested once by French duo Caroline Garcia and Diane Parry in the second round. Outside of that, they did not drop a set.

Russian’s Mirra Andreeva and Diana Shnaider were a surprise package, ousting No 2 seeds Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova in the third round. The Czech still did one better than the No 1 seeds, with Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula putting in a forgettable performance to lose in the second round against Karolina Muchova and Linda Noskova.

Mixed Doubles

1. Katerina Siniakova and Tomas Machac – gold medal
2. Wang Xinyu and Zhang Zhizhen – silver medal
3. Gabriela Dabrowski and Felix Auger-Aliassime – bronze medal

Siniakova made up for her shortcoming in the women’s doubles by going all the way and winning the mixed doubles alongside Tomas Machac. The pair began their campaign with a huge upset, ousting top seeds Alexander Zverev and Lara Siegemund in the opening round.

The Czechs then didn’t drop a set until the final, when they saw off a gritty challenge from China’s Wang Xinyu and Zhang Zhizhen, who came within two points of winning gold in Paris.

Xinyu and Zhizhen had done tough en route to the gold medal match, going to match tiebreaks in every single one of their matches. However, when it mattered most, they were unable to win the most important tiebreaker, conceding four points in a row to lose from 8-6 up in the gold medal match.

Biggest Surprises of the 2024 Olympics Tennis

You’ve heard how the events went, but what about some of the big surprises in Paris? Here are the five things that shocked us the most in the Olympics tennis events.

1. All those withdrawals

There will always be differing opinions between players about how important the Olympics is. Some view it as the pinnacle of their careers; others cannot be bothered paying the plane ticket to get there. 

But this year, the amount of withdrawals from Olympics were astronomical. Sabalenka, Rybakina, Sinner, Rune, Murray–and these are just the big names. The replacements were controversial as well, with doubles players stepping into the singles draw to create some one-sided matches.

2. China punching above their weight

Few saw China coming away from the Olympics tennis with two medals in 2024. Zheng had previously made the Australian Open final this year, but her third-round loss at the French Open didn’t exactly inspire confidence, while there were no signs of Xinyu and Zhizhen going on the run they did.

3. Musetti backing up after Umag

Musetti has just put together the month of his life, against all odds. The Italian had a major breakthrough at Wimbledon, making his first Grand Slam semi-final in London. Then, just a few weeks later, he went deep in Umag, fighting out a three-hour final against Francisco Cerundolo. 

Off the back of this streak–which literally ended at 11pm in Croatia, the night before he was due to play in Paris–Musetti was expected to lose. That he went on to defeat Fritz, Zverev and Auger-Aliassime to win bronze was a big surprise.

4. Swiatek losing in the semi-finals

This was supposed to be Iga’s year. The 23-year-old has been virtually unbeatable on clay, and led the betting odds by a country mile in Paris. It just goes to show what pressure does, with a very nervy performance seeing her crash out in the semi-finals.

5. Schmiedlova beating Paolini and Krejcikova back-to-back

Coming into the Olympics, Paolini and Krejcikova were two of the in-form players in women’s tennis. They had just contested the Wimbledon final, with Paolini having made the last match of the French Open as well.

Schmiedlova was not in form. The Slovak had a 19-15 win-loss record for the year. And yet, she tore through both Paolini and Krejcikova, ousting the pair in back-to-back matches.

Most Memorable Moments of the Tennis Olympics in 2024

Look back on the Olympics tennis this year, these are the moments that we think will go down in tennis history:

1. Ebden seeing his draw

Go find the clip of Ebden seeing his draw get announced online. The Aussie stepped into the men’s singles as a late replacement. His reward? A first round match against Djokovic, with Nadal to follow, should he manage to win. He didn’t (thankfully?), going down 6-0, 6-1 to the top seed.

2. Murray and Evans saving all the match points

Nothing epitomizes Andy Murray more than the display he put on at this year’s Olympics. It was a fitting send off for the Brit–fighting back from 9-5 down is a microcosm for Murray’s storied career.

3. Stroppy American women

First it was Gauff crying and causing a scene when she lost to Vekic. Then it was Navarro telling Zheng that she doesn’t respect her after losing in the third round. And then, Collins walks around the net and berates Swiatek for having a toilet break, also after losing to her. Doesn’t paint a great picture for the American women at the Olympics.

4. That Nadal/Alcaraz photo

While the picture of Brazilian surfer Gabriel Medina levitating above the ocean is undoubtedly the photo of the Olympics, tennis fans will remember another memorable snap. In their first doubles match together, a photographer perfectly encapsulated two generations of Spanish tennis, with Nadal and Alcaraz doing a synchronized ‘vamos’ side by side.

5. Djokovic’s emotion

Last but not least, the 2024 Olympics tennis will always be remembered for one thing: Novak Djokovic. More specifically, the rare emotion he showed after winning his first gold medal. Collapsing to the court, shaking and visibly bawling his eyes out, fans were treated to a display of sheer willpower. 

Djokovic had said from the very beginning of the year that the Olympics was his priority. Everything went against him–no title by August for the first time since 2005, knee injury, bad loss to Alcaraz just weeks ago–and yet, he gritted his teeth and performed when it was needed. The outpouring of emotion on court was evidence of just how much it took for him to achieve his goal.