Alex de Minaur is finally set to make his Olympic debut at the Paris Games in 2024, three years after being forced to miss the Tokyo Games due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The ninth-ranked Australian was among the nine tennis players selected on Wednesday for Australia’s Olympic team. Ajla Tomljanovic will be the lone representative in the women’s singles draw in Paris.
De Minaur, a nine-time ATP title winner, expressed his excitement about finally competing in the Olympics. “Obviously last time round I got a little bit unlucky to not be able to play in Tokyo, but I’ve had my eyes set on Paris and I am super excited to now be officially part of this team,” he said.
He will be joined in the men’s singles competition by Alexei Popyrin, Chris O’Connell, and Rinky Hijikata. In the men’s doubles, Matt Ebden, currently ranked No. 1 in the world, will team up with Tokyo 2020 mixed doubles bronze medalist John Peers. De Minaur and Popyrin will also compete as a doubles pair. Ellen Perez, the world’s ninth-ranked women’s doubles player, will partner Daria Saville in the women’s doubles competition.
Lleyton Hewitt, a three-time Olympian and two-time Grand Slam singles champion, will captain the men’s team. Sam Stosur, Australia’s only five-time tennis Olympian and 2011 U.S. Open singles champion, will lead the women’s team.
The tennis competition at the Paris Olympics will be held at Roland Garros, the home of the French Open, from July 27 to August 4. This will be the first time since the 1992 Barcelona Games that the Olympic tennis tournament will be played on clay.
