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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Russell Wilson and Sean Payton spent just one NFL season together, but tension lingered after a rocky year.
And it appears the tension that built up from that tumultuous stretch continues to linger.
Wilson’s interview on the “Bussin’ With the Boys” podcast, recorded before last month’s Super Bowl between Seattle and New England, recently resurfaced.
In the interview, Wilson doubled down on his October comment labeling Payton “classless,” saying he felt slighted by his former coach’s remarks.
Head coach Sean Payton of the Denver Broncos talks to quarterback Russell Wilson on the sideline during an NFL preseason football game against the Arizona Cardinals at State Farm Stadium Aug. 11, 2023, in Glendale, Ariz. (Ryan Kang/Getty Images)
“[When] you’ve been on the same side or this and that, and I got the same amount of rings as you got, meaning Sean, right?” said Wilson, who won a Super Bowl with the Seattle Seahawks as Payton did coaching for the New Orleans Saints.
“I got a lot of respect for him as a play-caller, this and that, but to take a shot, I don’t like. I don’t think it’s necessary, you know, I mean, especially when I’m not even on your own team anymore. So, for me, there’s a point in time where you have to, I’ve realized, I’ve stayed quiet for so long. There’s a there’s a time and place where I’m not.
“I know who I am as a competitor, as a warrior, as a champion, too, and, you know, I’ve beaten Sean, too. You know, like we’ve been on the same place and the same thing. And so, it’s not a matter of disrespect. Just don’t disrespect me.”
Sean Payton and Russell Wilson of the Denver Broncos during an a game against the Minnesota Vikings at Empower Field at Mile High Nov. 19, 2023, in Denver, Colo. (Ryan Kang/Getty Images)
After a rocky one-year stint with the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2024, Wilson joined the New York Giants last offseason. However, he was relegated to a backup role after just three games.
Rookie Jaxson Dart quickly showed promise once he had the chance to start, but his season was briefly derailed by injury. Jameis Winston — not Wilson — stepped in for Dart in a handful of games. Dart threw three touchdowns in a Week 7 matchup with the Broncos, nearly pulling off an upset in what was eventually a close loss.
After the game, Payton said Dart provided a “spark” to the Giants’ offense.
“I was talking to [Giants owner] John Mara not too long ago, and I said, ‘We were hoping that that change would have happened long after our game,’” Payton said.
The New York Giants’ Russell Wilson attempts to escape a sack by Dallas Cowboys defensive end James Houston (53) in the first half of a game Sept. 14, 2025, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
Payton also said the Broncos would have faced less of a challenge had Wilson been under center.
“Classless … but not surprised,” Wilson responded in a social media post. “Didn’t realize you’re still bounty hunting 15+ years later though the media.”
Despite last season’s struggles and chatter about his football future, Wilson does not appear ready to call it quits in 2026.
“I wanna play a few more years for sure,” he said. “I think, for me, I’ve always had the vision of getting to 40, at least. I think the game is different. Quarterbacks, we get hit. It’s not, you know, we get hit hard, but … there’s certain rules. I mean, back in the day when I started, bro, it was you just get [clobbered].
“I mean, so I feel like the game allows you to, you know, live a little longer, I guess. I feel healthy. I feel great. But I think, more than anything else is, do you love the game? Do you love studying? Do you love the passion for it all? Do you love the process? Do you love the practice? Do you love — everybody loves the winning part of it, but it’s process. There’s a journey that you got to be obsessed with. And that part I’m obsessed with.”
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The early rounds of the BNP Paribas Open began Wednesday, with top seeds slated to start play Friday during the 12-day ATP and WTPA Master 1000 tournament.
A busy stretch of the tennis season reaches another gear at Indian Wells Tennis Garden, the second largest outdoor tennis stadium in the world.
While many consider it the “fifth Grand Slam” because of its elite player field, amenities and equal prize money for men and women, professionals acknowledge the tournament is part of a stressful stretch on the tennis calendar.
Indian Wells is followed by the Miami Open, another two-week Master 1000 tournament. The tour stops are known as the “Sunshine Double.”
Some players made the short trip from Indian Wells to Las Vegas this past weekend to participate in the MGM Grand Slam, an exhibition designed to help players ramp up for back-to-back tournaments.
American Reilly Opelka, a 6-foot–11 pro, said managing fatigue after a series of tournaments before hitting Indian Wells has altered his practice and play in exhibition matches, including a loss to 19-year-old Brazilian Joao Fonseca in Las Vegas.
“Normally in any kind of competition, you get excited and play with a pressure point … but you don’t feel this when you are practicing,” Opelka said.
“I was trying to feel like this a few days ago while practicing with … [Tommy Paul,] but instead we got tired and hungry. … That usually doesn’t happen. We just decided to stop and go to eat somewhere.”
Paul said despite the decision to cut practice short, he feels fresh for the upcoming events.
“I started the year pretty well and for Americans, we are excited for the Sunshine Double,” Paul said.
Casper Rudd lost to Opelka during the first round of the Las Vegas exhibition. The Norwegian also lost a week ago during the first round of the Acapulco Open, falling to Chinese qualifier Yibing Wu in straight sets.
Rudd said he felt “extremely tired” after the Australian Open in January.
Rancho Palo Verdes resident Taylor Fritz, ranked No. 7 in the world, said the best way to prepare yourself for grueling tour schedule is “putting [in] the time, work and repetition.”
“… Be there, be focused on the quality that you are doing,” said Fritz, a 28-year-old who won the Indian Wells title in 2022.
While some players are guarding against burnout, others struggled to even reach California. Some players who live in Dubai, including Russians Daniil Medvedev and Andrey Rublev, have to contend with closed airspace triggered by the U.S. and Israel bombing Iran.
The ATP announced Wednesday that, “the vast majority of players who were in Dubai have successfully departed today on selected flights.”
Sports
Law firm fighting for women’s sports in SCOTUS battle comments on ruling possibly impacting SJSU trans lawsuit
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A law firm leading the charge in the ongoing Supreme Court case over trans athletes in women’s sports has responded after a federal judge suggested the case’s ruling could impact a separate case involving a similar issue.
Colorado District Judge Kato Crews deferred ruling in motions to dismiss former San Jose State volleyball co-captain Brooke Slusser’s lawsuit against the California State University (CSU) system until after a ruling in the B.P.J. v. West Virginia Supreme Court case, which is expected to come in June.
Slusser filed the lawsuit against representatives of her school and the Mountain West Conference in fall 2024 after she allegedly was made to share bedrooms and changing spaces with trans teammate Blaire Fleming for a whole season without being informed that Fleming is a biological male.
Meanwhile, the B.P.J. case went to the Supreme Court after a trans teen sued West Virginia to block the state’s law that prevents males from competing in girls’ high school sports.
The Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) is the primary law firm defending West Virginia in that case at the Supreme Court, and has now responded to news that Slusser’s lawsuit could be affected by the SCOTUS ruling.
“We hope the ruling from the Supreme Court will affirm that Title IX was designed to guarantee equal opportunity for women, not to let male athletes displace women and girl in competition. It is crucial that sports be separated by sex for not only the equal opportunity of women but for safety and privacy. Title IX should protect women’s right to compete in their own sports. Allowing men to compete in the female category reverses 50 years of advancement for women,” ADF Vice President of Litigation Strategies Jonathan Scruggs said.
Slusser’s attorney, Bill Bock of the Independent Council on Women’s Sports, expects a Supreme Court ruling in favor of the legal defense representing West Virginia, thus helping his case.
(Left) Brooke Slusser (10) of the San Jose State Spartans serves the ball during the first set against the Air Force Falcons at Falcon Court at East Gym in Colorado Springs, Colorado, on Oct. 19, 2024. (Right) Blaire Fleming #3 of the San Jose State Spartans looks on during the third set against the Air Force Falcons at Falcon Court at East Gym on October 19, 2024 in Colorado Springs, Colorado. ( Andrew Wevers/Getty Images; Andrew Wevers/Getty Images)
“We’re looking forward to the case going forward,” Bock told Fox News Digital.
“I believe that the court is going to find that Title IX operates on the basis of biological sex, without regard to an assumed or professed gender, and so just like the congress and the members of congress that passed Title IX in 1972, allowed this specifically provided for in the regulations that there had to be separate men’s and women’s teams based on biological sex, I think the court is going to see that is the original meaning of the statute and apply it in that way, and I think it’s going to be a big win in women’s sports.”
The Supreme Court’s conservative majority appeared prepared to rule in favor of West Virginia after oral arguments on Jan. 13.
Slusser spoke on the steps of the Supreme Court on Jan. 13 while oral arguments took place inside, sharing her experience with a divided crowd of opposing protesters.
With Fleming on its roster, SJSU reached the 2024 conference final by virtue of a forfeit by Boise State in the semifinal round. SJSU lost in the final to Colorado State.
Slusser went on to develop an eating disorder due to the anxiety and trauma from the scandal and dropped out of her classes the following semester. The eating disorder became so severe, that Slusser said she lost her menstrual cycle for nine months. Her decision to drop her classes resulted in the loss of her scholarship, and her parents said they had to foot the bill out of pocket for an unfinished final semester of college.
President Donald Trump’s Department of Education determined in January that SJSU violated Title IX in its handling of the situation involving Fleming, and has given the university an ultimatum to agree to a series of resolutions or face a referral to the Department of Justice.
Among the department’s findings, it determined that a female athlete discovered that the trans student allegedly conspired to have a member of an opposing team spike her in the face during a match. ED claims that “SJSU did not investigate the conspiracy, but later subjected the female athlete to a Title IX complaint for ‘misgendering’ the male athlete in online videos and interviews.”
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SJSU trans player Blaire Fleming and teammate Brooke Slusser went to a magic show and had Thanksgiving together in Las Vegas despite an ongoing lawsuit over Fleming being transgender. (Thien-An Truong/San Jose State Athletics)
SJSU Athletic Director Jeff Konya told Fox News Digital in a July interview that he was satisfied with how the university handled the situation involving Fleming.
“I think everybody acted in the best possible way they could, given the circumstances,” Konya said.
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