The group of Italian tennis players who will fly to Paris 2024 is taking shape. Based on the ATP and WTA rankings of Monday 10 June, the International Tennis Federation has communicated to the National Olympic Committees the names of men and women players who are entitled to participate in the tournament in five hoops, which will be hosted on the red clay of Roland Garros. Individual passes for the men’s singles to world number 1 Jannik Sinner, number 30 Lorenzo Musetti, number 34 Matteo Arnaldi and number 41 Luciano Darderi. Andrea Vavassori, however, qualifies for the doubles having entered the top 10 of the specialty for the first time in his career (with the possibility of choosing a partner from the top 300 in the ranking).
As regards the women’s singles draw, Italia Team will be able to count on world number 7 Jasmine Paolini, number 43 Elisabetta Cocciaretto and number 68 Lucia Bronzetti. By Wednesday 19 June the National Olympic Committees will have to confirm the quotas achieved. Once the quotas have been reallocated, a new ITF update will take place which will communicate further names for the Games.
There is no Matteo Berrettini in our team for Paris. But it is only due to injuries that have made his last three years of career all uphill, causing him to fall back a lot in the ranking: he had reached number 6, now he is 95. But the Roman giant is making great strides towards the top. In fact, he advances to the quarter-finals of the ATP 250 tournament in Stuttgart (grass, prize money 734,915 euros): in the draw thanks to his protected ranking, he surpasses the 25-year-old Canadian Denis Shapovalov, number 117 in the ATP ranking and in the draw thanks to a wild-card, with the score was 6-4, 6-4 in an hour and a quarter. On the grass, the one that had given him two victories at Queen’s and the final at Wimbledon in 2021 – but no Italian had managed to compete for the title in the most prestigious Slam – ‘The Hammer’ is finding himself.
Rafael Nadal will not be at Wimbledon, who instead is betting everything on the Olympics, because then the tournament will be played on the courts of a Roland Garros that he has won 14 times.
“During the post-match press conference at Roland Garros – Rafa posted on social media – I was asked about my summer calendar and since then I have started training on clay. On Wednesday it was announced that I will play at the Paris Summer Olympics, my last Olympics. With this goal we believe that the best thing for my body is not to change surfaces and continue to play on clay until then. This is why I will miss playing at Wimbledon this year.”
In doubles, in Paris, Nadal will play with Alcaraz: 25 Slams won between them.
