Sports
At the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, tennis is as odd a fit as ever
For many, tennis and the Olympics are an odd combination, and never more so than for the Paris Games in 2024.
A little more than a month after the best tennis players in the world left the red clay of Roland Garros, they are headed right back onto it at a time of year when they are supposed to be getting started on the hard court swing through North America.
A dozen years ago, in the halcyon days of the London Olympics, players basically just moved across town, from Wimbledon to the Olympic Village, then commuted to the All England Club, where the most important tournament had just concluded, for another one. Easy-peasy. Ever since, not so much.
In 2016, the big question ahead of the Rio Games was who wanted to schlep to South America and risk getting Zika, the mosquito-born virus that was on a low-key rage through Brazil. In 2021, dealing with COVID restrictions and testing, and playing in empty stadiums in a climate that felt like the surface of the sun was part of the bargain in Tokyo.
Great Britain’s Andy Murray won his second consecutive Olympic gold at the 2016 Olympics. (Clive Brunskill / Getty Images)
This year, it’s the oddball transition from the slowest surface in tennis (clay) to one of the fastest ones (the grass of Wimbledon) then back to the slow clay, then over to North America’s hard courts for a compressed U.S. Open tune-up run.
This is heaven for a player like Iga Swiatek, the world No. 1 and a clay-court savant. She’s probably one of the rare athletes heading to Paris in any sport who can basically drive in and pick up her gold medal. She just doesn’t lose at Roland Garros, where she has won the French Open four of the past five years.
For almost everyone else, it’s complicated.
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Three top Americans, Ben Shelton, Frances Tiafoe and Sebastian Korda, have all passed. Too much time on the road. Too much hard-court prep work to do ahead of the U.S. Open, which is the most important Grand Slam of the year for many Americans.
Tiafoe, the child of immigrants from Sierra Leone whose love for his country and representing it is deep, said it was a tough call, but not so much because of the tennis tournament, or the chance to win a medal. He’s a basketball nut and thinks this is the only time LeBron James and Stephen Curry will play together in an Olympics.
“That’s going to be iconic,” said Tiafoe, who is confident he will still be good enough to make the team when the Summer Games take place in Los Angeles in four years’ time.
Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus, the two-time defending Australian Open champion, and Ons Jabeur of Tunisia, a three-time Grand Slam finalist, have also taken a pass, citing concerns about injuries.
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“I’m really curious how players will play the Olympics and the hard-court season,” said Jabeur, who has been struggling with a knee injury all year, which she could exacerbate by changing surfaces so dramatically. “Honestly, it’s going to be very tough.”
Everyone who passes, though, opens up an opportunity for someone who wouldn’t miss it for the world. Chris Eubanks was sixth on the list of U.S. players eligible to fill one of four U.S. spots in singles. When he got the call-up, he relished the chance to play in a team event but also to soak up the spirit of the Games.
Clay is his worst surface.
“I’ll figure it out,” he said.
The opening ceremony takes place the night before the start of the tennis tournament. He might have to play the next morning.
Japan’s Naomi Osaka lighting the Olympic torch at the 2020 Tokyo Games. (Jamie Squire / Getty Images)
“Don’t care,” he said. “Not missing that.”
Christian Coleman, the American sprinter, was in Eubanks’ fifth-grade class. They’ve been buddies ever since. Now, they will be Olympians together. Coleman was selected for the U.S. relay squad.
“How cool is that?” he said.
Last week, the International Tennis Federation, which runs the Olympic tournament, bragged that 22 of the top 30 women and men had committed to participating. So has Rafael Nadal, who is going to play doubles with Carlos Alcaraz in what should be one of the showcase events of the Games.
Assuming his knee holds up, Novak Djokovic, who underwent meniscus surgery on June 5 but managed to reach the Wimbledon final, will be there, too. Despite winning 24 Grand Slam titles, Djokovic has never won an Olympic gold medal in four tries. It’s the most surprising hole in his resume. He was the man about the Games in Tokyo, doing splits with gymnasts in the Olympic Village gym, getting loud and rowdy with other Serbian athletes as they watched events together, and posing for selfies with just about anyone.
Novak Djokovic did win an Olympic bronze medal in Beijing in 2008. (Clive Brunskill / Getty Images)
That’s the glass nearly three-quarters full, or is it more than a quarter empty?
Nearly four decades after its return to the Olympic program following a 64-year respite, tennis remains in a bit of an oddball spot at the Games. It features some of the biggest stars in the sport, but a gold medal isn’t looked at with the same luster as a Grand Slam title, unless you are someone like Alexander Zverev or Belinda Bencic, gold medalists who have not won Grand Slam singles titles.
Dave Haggerty, the president of the ITF, said the sport’s reentry into the Olympics has been one of the keys to its growth since 1988. Participation has more than doubled to roughly 100 million players. There are now 213 countries with tennis federations compared with 104 in 1988. Of those, 157 compete in the national team event for men, the Davis Cup, and 138 compete in the women’s Billie Jean King Cup, compared with 51 and fewer than 40 in 1988.
“It’s not a traditional tennis audience,” Haggerty said. “It’s an opportunity for us to get a different audience.”
Just as they did when they draped Wimbledon in pink in 2012, organizers plan to dress up Roland Garros so it doesn’t simply look like a smaller version of the French Open.
They will have to cover up the Rolex signs since Omega is the Olympic sponsor. There is also no electronic line calling, no prize money, and probably more importantly, no rankings points. With no chance to earn rankings points, Denis Shapovalov, the Canadian star trying to work his way back from an injury and desperate to get his ranking back to where he can be seeded for big tournaments, said he had little choice but to skip the Games.
Venus and Serena Williams have won eight Olympic gold medals — and 30 Grand Slam singles titles — between them. (Clive Brunskill / Getty Images)
Haggerty said the purity of competing for a medal and nothing else provides its own quadrennial allure. Easy for him to say — he’s not giving up as much as two weeks’ salary to participate. There is also the draw of the spectacle of the Olympic Games and the break it provides from the hamster wheel of the regular tour. Plenty of players would spend a week competing on gravel if it came with an opportunity to march — or in this case, ride a ferry down the Seine — in the opening ceremony and spend a week living and/or socializing among 10,000 of the best athletes in the world at their chosen pursuits in the Olympic Village.
“Me and Emma already have our plan for trading pins and getting all around the village,” said Danielle Collins, who will team up with Emma Navarro on the American team. “Total bucket list item for me.”
Coco Gauff wants to win a medal but also meet Simone Biles, the greatest gymnast ever, and Sha’Carri Richardson, the gold medal favorite in the 100 meters, and wants to hook up once more with two other American runners, Gabby Thomas and Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone.
It turns out Daniil Medvedev is an Olympics guy, too. “Very easy decision,” he said, claiming he loved the atmosphere in Tokyo, which because of all the COVID restrictions, was probably the worst Summer Olympics atmosphere ever. Given that, Medvedev, a Russian who will compete as a neutral athlete because of his country’s invasion of Ukraine, is going to have himself a time in Paris.
“I know if I’m thinking strictly about my personal career, it’s better to go to Canada, prepare for hard courts,” Medvedev said last week. “When I’m 40, if I can say I played in Tokyo Olympics, Paris Olympics, Los Angeles Olympics, I had a lot of fun in my life, my career, I’m going to be happy.”
Alcaraz, who turned 21 in May, is practically frothing at the mouth to play in his first Olympic Games. He said he is going to “give 100 percent for my country,” and then figure out what his pre-U.S. Open schedule will look like.
“I have to think about it,” he said.
He will have plenty of fellow players to consult.
(Top illustration: Dan Goldfarb / The Athletic; photo: Abbie Parr / Getty Images)
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The highly anticipated 30th WNBA season tipped off Friday with three games, including the expansion Toronto Tempo’s first-ever contest.
The action continued Saturday with a full slate, including Caitlin Clark’s return after an injury-riddled sophomore season.
Clark and the Indiana Fever hosted the Dallas Wings on Saturday afternoon in a matchup featuring the four most recent No. 1 overall picks. The Wings outlasted the Fever 107-104, but the game was defined by Azzi Fudd’s — the most recent top pick — underwhelming debut.
Dallas Wings guards Azzi Fudd and Paige Bueckers react during the first half of the Fever’s season opener at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis on May 9, 2026. (Grace Smith/IndyStar / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images)
Fudd played 18 minutes off the bench, scoring three points — the lowest ever by a No. 1 overall pick in a WNBA debut.
Wings coach Jose Fernandez addressed Fudd’s performance after the game, encouraging the rookie to, “Keep doing what she’s doing, it’s her first year in the league. We got five really talented backcourt players.”
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In addition to Fudd, Dallas’ backcourt features last year’s top draft pick Paige Bueckers, last season’s No. 12 overall pick Aziaha James, four-time All-Star Arike Ogunbowale and starting guard Odyssey Sims.
Until Saturday, Kelsey Plum held the record for the lowest-scoring debut by a No. 1 pick. Selected first overall by the then-San Antonio Stars in 2017, she scored just four points in her debut. The Stars relocated to Las Vegas in 2018 and was subsequently rebranded as the Aces.
Dallas Wings guard Azzi Fudd warms up before the game against the Indiana Fever at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana, on May 9, 2026. (Michael Hickey/Getty Images)
Despite the slow start to her first season in the league, Plum ended the year with All-Rookie team honors. In the years since, she’s been named to four All-Star teams and won two championships with the Aces.
The Wings’ decision to take Fudd with the No. 1 overall pick drew controversy, raising questions about whether Bueckers’ personal relationship with her influenced the selection. Late last month, Bueckers said last month it did not.
Azzi Fudd poses with WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert after being selected first overall by the Dallas Wings during the 2026 WNBA Draft at The Shed in New York City on April 13, 2026. (Angelina Katsanis/Getty Images)
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“Azzi Fudd was the No. 1 draft pick because she earned it, and it had nothing to do with me and everything to do with who she is as a human being, who she is as a basketball player,” Bueckers said, according to ESPN.
Neither Bueckers nor Fudd has publicly updated their relationship status since the April draft.
“Quite frankly, I believe me and Azzi’s personal relationship is nobody’s business but our own,” Bueckers also said in April. “And what we choose to share is completely up to us.”
Next up, the Wings play their home opener on Tuesday when they host the Atlanta Dream.
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The Lakers are one playoff defeat from their season being over and from the conversation turning to LeBron James’ future.
They are in a hole no team has climbed out of in the history of the NBA, the Lakers’ 131-108 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 3 putting L.A. down 3-0 in the best-of-seven Western Conference semifinal series.
James and his teammates gave a gallant effort Saturday night at Crypto.com Arena, but the defending champion proved to be more than the Lakers could handle.
James finished his night with 19 points on seven-for-19 shooting, eight assists and six rebounds. Rui Hachimura had 21 points and Austin Reaves finished with 17 points and nine assists.
Even so, the Lakers have now lost all three games by double digits.
And the Lakers are fully aware that no NBA team has successfully come back from a 3-0 deficit in the playoffs, with those teams holding a 161-0 record. Only four teams have forced a Game 7 after trailing 3-0, all of which ultimately lost the series, including the Boston Celtics in 2023.
Lakers forward LeBron James shows frustration as Thunder center Chet Holmgren slam dunks during Game 3 on Saturday night.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
Game 4 is Monday night, when the Lakers will try to stave off elimination and a night that will determine how the conversations go with James if they lose.
James has been frequently asked this season about retirement, but he has not given any indication of what the future holds for him.
He’s 41 years old and playing in an NBA-record 23rd season.
James is in the final year of his contract that pays him $52 million, making him a free agent this offseason. He can retire, join another team or perhaps return to the Lakers next season.
That will be the conversation if the Lakers can’t win Game 4.
They will see the same Thunder team that had seven players score in double figures, led by Ajay Mitchell’s 24 points and 10 assists and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s 23 points and nine assists.
The Lakers went down 13 in the third quarter and had to play catchup the rest of the way. They never did, going down by 112-94 with 6 minutes and 12 seconds left, forcing Lakers coach JJ Redick to call a timeout.
The deficit just kept growing, topping out at 27 points in the fourth.
They were outscored 33-20 in the third quarter. The Lakers didn’t take care of the basketball in the third, turning it over six times, and they didn’t play good defense, allowing the Thunder to shoot 59.1% from the field and 55.6 percent from three-point range,
The Lakers did not give an inch to the Thunder in the first half, even when they fell behind by 10 points.
They just kept grinding until they led 59-57 at halftime.
Hachimura had 16 points in the first half, continuing his hot three-point shooting by making all four of his threes. Luke Kennard came off the bench to give the Lakers 13 points, shooting five for six from the field and three for four from three-point range.
The Lakers kept the pressure defense on Gilgeous-Alexander. Though he had 14 points in the first half, he shot only four for 14 from the field and one for five from three-point range.
The Lakers shot 55% from three-point range in the first half, which went a long way in helping them.
The Lakers lost the first two games by identical margins of 18 points and each loss was magnified because Gilgeous-Alexander was kept under wraps for the most part by L.A.’s defense.
When Gilgeous-Alexander picked up his fourth foul with 10:34 left in the third quarter of Game 2 and went to the bench, the Thunder turned a five-point lead into a 13-point advantage at the end of the quarter.
So, when he wasn’t on the court, the Lakers failed to take advantage.
“Well, you know, again, I’ll repeat what I said after the game: we’ve got to be better in the non-Shai minutes,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said.
Role players like Mitchell and Jared McCain hurt the Lakers in the second game. Chet Holmgren also was hard to deal with.
“Mitchell and McCain have hurt us in those non-Shai minutes, and then Chet [Holmgren] has hurt us the whole game,” Redick said. “I think you’ve got to be willing to live with something. Shai playing one-on-one, thus far in the series, we haven’t been willing to live with, so you’re going to be in rotation. That can lead to smalls on bigs at the hole, and the offensive rebounding from Chet has really hurt us.”
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In 2025, Alex Palou kicked off the Month of May with a Sonsio Grand Prix win at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course.
Based on the odds, it’s likely that Palou will find himself in Winner’s Circle again this Saturday when INDYCAR goes back to IMS on May 9 (4:30 p.m. ET, FOX).
Considering Palou has already captured the checkered flag three times this season, are there any other drivers whose odds are worth a wager?
Here are the latest lines at DraftKings Sportsbook as of May 9.
This page may contain affiliate links to legal sports betting partners. If you sign up or place a wager, FOX Sports may be compensated. Read more about Sports Betting on FOX Sports.
Sonsio Grand Prix 2026
Àlex Palou: 5/18 (bet $10 to win $12.78 total)
Kyle Kirkwood: 5/1 (bet $10 to win $60 total)
Pato O’Ward: 12/1 (bet $10 to win $130 total)
David Malukas: 14/1 (bet $10 to win $150 total)
Josef Newgarden: 16/1 (bet $10 to win $170 total)
Scott McLaughlin: 20/1 (bet $10 to win $210 total)
Christian Lundgaard: 30/1 (bet $10 to win $310 total)
Scott Dixon: 40/1 (bet $10 to win $410 total)
Will Power: 60/1 (bet $10 to win $610 total)
Felix Rosenqvist: 80/1 (bet $10 to win $810 total)
Alexander Rossi: 100/1 (bet $10 to win $1,010 total)
Marcus Ericsson: 100/1 (bet $10 to win $1,010 total)
Marcus Armstrong: 100/1 (bet $10 to win $1,010 total)
Christian Rasmussen: 150/1 (bet $10 to win $1,510 total)
Graham Rahal: 150/1 (bet $10 to win $1,510 total)
Louis Foster: 300/1 (bet $10 to win $3,010 total)
Dennis Hauger: 500/1 (bet $10 to win $5,010 total)
Romain Grosjean: 500/1 (bet $10 to win $5,010 total)
Santino Ferrucci: 500/1 (bet $10 to win $5,010 total)
Rinus Veekay: 500/1 (bet $10 to win $5,010 total)
Kyffin Simpson: 500/1 (bet $10 to win $5,010 total)
Caio Collet: 1000/1 (bet $10 to win $10,010 total)
Sting Ray Robb: 1000/1 (bet $10 to win $10,010 total)
Nolan Siegel: 1000/1 (bet $10 to win $10,010 total)
Mick Schumacher: 1000/1 (bet $10 to win $10,010 total)
Here’s what to know about the oddsboard:
Heavy Favorite: It doesn’t look like Alex Palou’s dominance will be slowing down anytime soon. As noted above, he’s already won three of the five races since the INDYCAR season started in March. With 186 laps led, Palou sits first in the standings and has the shortest odds to win the title again. Last season, he started from the pole and led 29 laps before winning the race.
Long Shot to Watch: While his odds of 150/1 to win at IMS are much longer than Palou’s, Graham Rahal is one to watch. At this race in 2025, he started second and led 49 laps before finishing sixth. He finished second at this course in 2015, 2020 and 2023. He’s currently 10th in the INDYCAR standings, with one top five and three top 10s.
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