Five tennis players named to Canadian Olympic team
2019 US Open champion Bianca Andreescu will make her debut in a star-studded Olympic team.
Tennis Canada and the Canadian Olympic Committee named five players to the Team Canada tennis roster for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, four of whom have prior Olympic experience.
The athletes qualified for Paris 2024 based on their WTA and ATP Tour rankings as of Monday, June 10, 2024. Bianca Andreescu and Milos Raonic used their protected rankings to gain direct entry into the Olympics, a mechanism for players who have missed extended time from the sport due to necessary absences like injuries.
Andreescu is the lone athlete on the team who hasn’t been to the Olympics before, but she doesn’t lack experience playing in big matches. Andreescu won the 2019 US Open, becoming the first-ever Canadian Grand Slam singles champion. That same year she also won at Indian Wells and the Canadian Open, beating Serena Williams in both the Canadian and US Open finals.
Andreescu will take part in the women’s singles event in Paris.
“Playing at the Olympic Games has been a huge goal of mine these past few months as I have been working my way back from injury,” she said in a press release. “It is always an honour to represent my country and I cannot wait to do that again alongside Canada’s incredible team of athletes on the world’s biggest stage in Paris.
“This is a dream come true and I can’t wait to soak up the Olympic atmosphere and give it everything.”
Raonic will be returning to the Olympics for the first time since London 2012, playing in both the men’s singles and doubles events in Paris.
At those Games, Raonic was eliminated after a near-four-hour instant classic against France’s Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the second round. A 6-3, 3-6, 25-23 win for Tsonga set a record for longest three-set match in Olympic history both in terms of time and games played, but the time record was broken just days later in the semifinal when Roger Federer and Juan Martín del Potro played a match that went four hours and 26 minutes.
The 33-year-old has battled injuries for the past few years, but for a long time was the most prominent Canadian on the tennis circuit. Ranked as high as third in the world at one point, Raonic was the first Canadian man to reach a major final, which he did at Wimbledon in 2016, losing to Andy Murray.
Last week Raonic set a record for aces in a three-set match, firing 47 past Britain’s Cameron Norrie at the cinch Championships.
“It’s a real honour to be able to represent Team Canada at the 2024 Paris Games,” said Raonic in a press release. My first Olympic experience at London 2012 was amazing, and I’m sure this will be even more so. We, as a team, have such strength in depth that we go there with the chance of doing something special.
“For me, this is an opportunity I thought might not come around again, so I’m going to savour every moment.”
For doubles, Raonic will team up with Félix Auger-Aliassime, who will also take part in the men’s singles competition.
Auger-Aliassime is ranked 17th in the ATP singles ranking, and will make his second Olympic appearance after playing men’s singles and mixed doubles at Tokyo 2020. Paired with Gabriela Dabrowski, he was eliminated in the first round of the mixed doubles event, and lost in the first round of the singles event as well, to Max Purcell of Australia.
The 23-year-old has made a run in several majors since a breakout 2021 season, reaching the US Open semis that year, and has a career-high ranking of sixth in the world. Perhaps most notably, he won the clinching game of the 2022 Davis Cup final, beating Australia’s Alex de Minaur in straight sets as Canada won the tournament for the first time.
“It’s an honour to represent my country at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, I’m delighted to be part of Team Canada,” said Auger-Aliassime in a press release. “It’s a global event that brings the world and the athletes together around the Olympic values of friendship, respect and excellence; I’m proud to be part of this inspiring event and I look forward to carrying the Canadian flag as high and far as possible.”
Dabrowski is heading to Paris as well, her third Olympic Games. She is ranked fourth in the world in women’s doubles, and won the 2023 US Open alongside Canadian-born New Zealand international Erin Routliffe — who is the sister of Canadian Para swimmer Tess Routliffe.
Dabrowski was a key player for Canada at the 2023 Billie Jean King Cup, an event that Canada won for the first time, becoming just the fifth nation to hold both the Billie Jean King Cup and the Davis Cup at the same time.
As she did at the BJK Cup, she will compete in women’s doubles with Leylah Fernandez.
“In sport, there is no greater honour than competing in the Olympics alongside the best athletes in the world,” said Dabrowski in a press release. “I am thrilled to have the opportunity to participate and partner with Leylah. Can’t wait to be there!”
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Fernandez is heading to her second Olympics as well, after losing in the second round of the women’s singles event at Tokyo 2020. She will compete in both the singles and doubles events in Paris.
Fernandez has had a standout few years since then, reaching the 2021 US Open singles final, a French Open quarterfinal in 2022, and the final of the French Open in doubles in 2023. Inconsistency has been what has let her down at times, but she carried Canada on her back at times as Canada won the aforementioned BJK Cup for the first time.
“It’s an honor to be able to represent Canada at the Olympic Games again,” said Fernandez in a press release. “I had a lot of fun at the last Games in Tokyo and can’t wait to join the rest of the team in Paris. It’s a great experience to be able to meet and spend time with athletes from other disciplines. We are all normally so focused within our own sports, and the Olympics gives us all a chance to learn from each other and come together as one big family.”
The athletes selected for mixed doubles will also be based on ranking, but determined via an on-site sign-in the week of the Olympic tennis tournament. It will feature athletes who are already participating in one of the other four draws.
Dabrowski would be expected to take part in that event, alongside either Raonic or Auger-Aliassime.
Tennis will take place from July 27 to August 4 at Roland-Garros, the historic site of the annual French Open. Canada’s only Olympic tennis medal was won in men’s doubles at Sydney 2000, by Daniel Nestor and Sébastien Lareau.
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