Sports
The intrigue of the Paris Olympics does not attract all tennis stars who take risks
- The Olympic Games are taking place in Paris, but a number of top players are skipping the event and competing in hard-court tournaments in America.
- The number of notable absentees speaks volumes about the strange place the Olympic Games occupy on the tennis calendar.
- While the chance to win an Olympic medal in a historical context may be priceless, there is no tangible motivation for players, either in the form of ranking points or prize money.
On Saturday afternoon, 21-year-old American Ben Shelton reached the fourth round at Wimbledon by beating Denis Shapovalov in five sets.
It is the third time in just eight Grand Slams that Shelton, a former NCAA champion at Florida, has reached the second week.
Roger Federer didn't do that so early in his career. Neither did Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic.
That doesn’t mean Shelton is destined to reach those heights, let alone win a single Grand Slam title. The climb from where he is to where he wants to be is brutally difficult. At this level of professional tennis, nothing is guaranteed.
But Shelton's results at Wimbledon this year continued a trend that has been evident since he turned pro in the fall of 2022: The bigger the tournament, the better he plays.
So why won't we see him in a few weeks at the Olympic Games in Paris?
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Shelton, along with fellow Russians Frances Tiafoe and Sebastian Korda, opted to skip the Olympics to compete in hardcourt tournaments in the U.S. And they’re not alone. Top-30 players Andrey Rublev (Russia), Grigor Dimitrov (Bulgaria), Karen Khachanov (Russia) and Adrian Mannarino (France) are skipping the men’s Olympics, while No. 3 Aryna Sabalenka (Belarus), No. 10 Ons Jabeur (Tunisia) and 2021 US Open champion Emma Raducanu (Great Britain) will miss the women’s event.
The number of notable absentees speaks volumes about the strange place the Olympic Games occupy on the tennis calendar.
On the one hand, competing in the Olympics is a rare and highly cherished opportunity that has international resonance, even beyond the typical tennis audience. At the same time, almost every tennis player would tell you that their primary goal is to win one of the four Grand Slams, and scheduling the Olympics between Wimbledon and the US Open isn’t necessarily the best preparation.
“I care a lot more about the Open, about being as prepared as I can for the Open,” Tiafoe told the Washington Post this week. “It wasn't easy. It definitely wasn't easy. And it still isn't. I probably won't be able to watch (Olympic tennis), to be honest with you.”
It is also a physical challenge to go from the slow, abrasive clay to the low-bouncing grass and then back to clay again. Jabeur, who had a shot at a rare medal for Tunisia, withdrew due to health problems following knee surgery last year.
“After consultation with my medical team, we decided that the rapid change of surface and the required adaptation of my body would pose a risk to my knee and jeopardize the rest of my season,” Jabeur said on social media.
There is another factor that players must consider: while the chance to win an Olympic medal in a historical context is priceless, there is no tangible motivation for players, neither in the form of ranking points nor in prize money.
While the Olympics are underway, some players, like Tiafoe and Shelton, will be back on tour in Atlanta and Washington, DC, playing for hundreds of thousands of dollars and valuable world ranking spots that could earn them better spots at the US Open.
“I think they (the Olympics) fit into the tennis schedule in a complicated way,” Shelton told reporters earlier this year, cutting Paris from his schedule months ago.
But is that a fair position to take, given that the Olympic Games, the world's biggest sporting event, only take place once every four years?
If you’re someone like Shelton, it’s probably easy to rationalize the idea that skipping the Olympics is no big deal. After all, he’s only 21, and he probably figures he’ll have a better shot at winning a medal in front of a home crowd in Los Angeles four years from now, or even in Brisbane, Australia in 2032.
At the same time, qualifying for the Olympics is not easy. The United States only gets four spots in the men’s singles draw. What if there’s an injury or a poorly timed slump or a string of young American players emerge and pass him by in 2028?
Anyone who misses the opportunity to participate in the Olympic Games must realize that he or she may be missing the only chance to participate in the Games.
That's why you really have to respect someone like Daniil Medvedev, the world number 5 who has called himself a hard-court specialist in the past and knows he has little chance of winning a medal on clay.
As a former US Open champion and three-time finalist, you might expect the Russian to be among those heading to North America. But he told reporters this week that it was a “really easy decision” to go to Paris after making his first Olympic appearance in Tokyo three years ago.
“I loved the atmosphere,” he said. “I loved being there, playing there. It's going to be different in Paris because Tokyo was like COVID, so there were no people, so it was a bit of a closed atmosphere and I (still) loved it. So I'm sure it's going to be even more fun in Paris.
“I know that if I only think about my personal career, it is better to go to Canada and prepare on hard court and so on. But when I am 40 and I can say that I have played in the Olympic Games in Tokyo, Paris and Los Angeles and that I have had a lot of fun in my life and career, then I will be happy.”
This is the third consecutive Olympic Games in which a significant number of top players have defected for unusual reasons.
In 2016, fears over the Zika virus deterred some players from traveling to South America. COVID restrictions in Tokyo and a series of positive tests, including that of American Coco Gauff, deterred some from playing three years ago. And this time, the unconventional surface change is either a factor or an excuse, depending on your point of view.
The truth is that Shelton, Tiafoe and Korda probably wouldn't do much at the Olympics, given their poor track records on clay. It might not seem like a big deal for them to miss out.
And while it may not have the same status as a Grand Slam in the tennis world, everyone in the world, tennis fan or not, understands what it means to be an Olympian and win a medal.
That’s one reason Nadal, who won gold in 2008, skipped Wimbledon altogether to prioritize preparations for Paris, where he has won the French Open 14 times. And it’s why Djokovic, who has never won an Olympic medal, has pushed so hard to come back from knee surgery in what will almost certainly be his last Games.
These different priorities make it difficult to place the Olympics in the hierarchy of tennis. Hopefully, the young American stars like Shelton who miss this rare opportunity will not regret it later.
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