The Olympic tennis championships, which begin on Saturday, July 27, have had a massive impact on the sport for the last few months. Top athletes dropped out of Wimbledon to partake in the 2024 Paris Games and it’s time to see whether it was worth it.
Between the five Olympic tennis events, 172 top tennis players will descend upon Paris’ Roland-Garros Stadium, with play running for almost the entire run of the Paris Olympics. Most of the world’s top players are in the mix including Andy Murray, who’s set to retire after the games.
Qualifying for the Olympic tennis tournament is tough but the competition only begins here, with this quadrennial celebration of sports adding another important entry to the tennis calendar alongside the four annual Grand Slams.
If you’re a tennis fan or just want to see the Olympic iteration of the sport, which has seen inconsistent appearances in the Games over the last century, our guide on how to watch the Olympic tennis will help you figure out how to catch all of the action.
How to watch Olympic tennis in the US
No, we know what you’re thinking: the Tennis Channel isn’t set to host Olympic tennis coverage.
Instead, that privilege goes to NBC’s streaming service Peacock, which is set to be the digital home of the Summer Games in the USA. Peacock will host live streams of each event and will let you watch multiple at once with one of its multi-view features.
Peacock costs $5.99 per month for its ad-enabled tier and $11.99 per month to avoid ads. Annual plans clock in at $59.99 and $119.99 respectively.
Some NBCUniversal channels may also air parts of the tennis on cable too, but this will likely be highlight live coverage rather than a purely tennis-focused stream.
How to watch Olympic tennis in the UK
You might have a hard time watching Olympic tennis matches in the UK, and that’s because the official broadcaster (the BBC) isn’t showing much of the games compared to other countries’ options.
The BBC is set to air some coverage on its live channels (BBC One and BBC Two will share the broadcast for this) and will have another online channel hosted on iPlayer.
These broadcasts will hop between different sports so you’ll have to hope that the BBC opts to show tennis. At least the BBC’s options are free to license fee payers.
Thankfully, there is another option that’ll let you see the sports. Discovery Plus is set to show a lot more of the Olympic games, and while it usually costs £6.99 per month for its Standard plan, a temporary deal lets you sign up for £3.99 monthly until the end of the year.
How to watch Olympic tennis in Australia
Australia’s official Olympics broadcaster is Nine Network, so you’ll be able to use its various channels to watch Olympic tennis matches both online and on TV.
If you can, we’d recommend you watch using 9Now, which is Nine Network’s free streaming service. 9Now is set to host 40 channels full of live sports which will almost definitely include tennis in the mix.
Some Nine channels are also expected to show Olympic coverage on TV but it won’t show the same quantity that 9Now will.
How to watch Olympic tennis everywhere else
If you’re going to be away from your normal TV setup but still want to watch the Olympic tennis, you might run into some problems. Thankfully, you can solve this exact issue with a Virtual Private Network (VPN).
A VPN lets you change your IP address to that of the area of what you want to watch, meaning you can tune in to your favorite sports, shows or other content even if you’re not there. Our favorite is NordVPN, which is the No. 1-rated VPN in the world right now according to our sister site, TechRadar.
How to use a VPN to watch any stream
- Download the app at NordVPN
- Choose the location of the streaming service you want to watch (UK, US, etc)
- Navigate to the streaming service and start watching!
Olympic tennis schedule
Here’s what’s happening on each day of the Olympic tennis competition:
Saturday, July 27
- Men’s singles: round of 64
- Women’s singles: round of 64
- Men’s doubles: round of 32
- Women’s doubles: round of 32
Sunday, July 28
- Men’s singles: round of 64
- Women’s singles: round of 64
- Men’s doubles: round of 32
- Women’s doubles: round of 32
Monday, July 29
- Men’s singles: round of 32
- Women’s singles: round of 32
- Men’s doubles: round of 16
- Women’s doubles: round of 16
- Mixed doubles: round of 16
Tuesday, July 30
- Men’s singles: round of 32
- Women’s singles: round of 16
- Men’s doubles: quarter-finals
- Women’s doubles: round of 16
- Mixed doubles: round of 16
Wednesday, July 31
- Men’s singles: round of 16
- Women’s singles: quarter-finals
- Men’s doubles: semi-finals
- Women’s doubles: quarter-finals
- Mixed doubles: quarter-finals
Thursday, August 1
- Men’s singles: quarter-finals
- Women’s singles: semi-finals
- Women’s doubles: semi-finals
- Mixed doubles: semi-finals
Friday, August 2
- Men’s singles: semi-finals
- Men’s doubles: bronze medal match
- Women’s singles: bronze medal match
- Mixed doubles: bronze medal match & final
Saturday, August 3
- Men’s singles: bronze medal match
- Men’s doubles: final
- Women’s singles: final
Sunday, August 4
- Men’s singles: final
- Women’s doubles: bronze medal match & final
All you need to know about the Olympic tennis
When does the Olympic tennis begin?
The Olympic tennis competition begins right at the beginning of the Summer Games, with the first matches falling on Saturday, July 27.
Which events make up the Olympic tennis competition?
Five events make up the Olympic tennis competition. They are:
- Men’s singles
- Women’s singles
- Men’s doubles
- Women’s doubles
- Mixed doubles
Are any major tennis players playing in the 2024 Olympics?
A few major tennis players have pulled out of Grand Slam events this year in order to be ready for the Olympics.
On the men’s side, the top eight tennis players in the world will be competing including Novak Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner.
For women, all but one of the top 10 players will be in Paris (all except for Aryna Sabalenka). That means that Iga Swiatek, Coco Gauff, Elena Rybakina and more will all compete.
Where does the Olympic tennis tournament take place
Tennis fans will feel right at home with the Olympic tennis championship and that’s because it takes place at the Stade Roland-Garros.
This Parisian tennis grounds is also where the French Open takes place each year, so it’s certainly no stranger to the racquet sport.
How to watch other Olympic sports
If you want specific information on other Olympic sports, here are guides we have to the other activities which will be shown as part of the Paris Olympic games: