Former Tulane Star Wins Olympics Opening-Round Tennis Match

The Paris Olympics will go on a little bit longer for former Tulane tennis standout Dominik Koefper.

Jul 27, 2024; Paris, France; Olympic rings on the net in women's singles action during the Paris 2024 Olympic Summer Games at Stade Roland Garros. / Amber Searls-USA TODAY Sports

Dominik Koefper, the former Tulane tennis standout, won his first-round singles match at the Paris Olympics on Sunday.

Koefper defeated Canada’s Milos Raonic, 6-7, 7-6 and 7-6 in a match that saw him win the final set with a 7-1 tiebreaker. He’ll face Italy's Matteo Arnaldi in the second round.

Tennis at the Olympics is being played on the clay courts at Roland Garros, where Koefper played just a couple of months ago.

The 30-year-old is competing for Germany and is a native of Furtwangen. He last played on clay in Hamburg, Germany, earlier this month, where he lost to Sebastian Baez in the round of 32. He also played at Roland Garros in the French Open, where he lost in the first round to Daniil Medvedev.

An elbow injury took him off the clay portion of the 2022 ATP Tour, which dropped him out of the rankings late that year. He vaulted back into the Top 200 in early 2023 after winning two ATP Challenger titles. That, along with reaching the semifinals in the Los Cabos Open, helped vault him back into the Top 100 by the start of 2024.  

Koepfer turned pro in 2016 after a standout career at Tulane. As a singles player he has won more than $3 million in prize money and was ranked No. 49 on the ATP Tour in late April. For this season he is ranked No. 63 with a 14-16 record. He has never won on tour.

As a doubles player he was ranked as high as No. 69 on the ATP Tour last month and now has a No. 73 ranking. He is 9-8 this season and 30-24 for his career.

Koefper played for Tulane from 2013-16. In his final season Koepfer was ranked the No. 1 singles player in the country for most of the spring and finished at No. 4. He was named an NCAA All-American and became the fifth Tulane player to be named a multi-time all-American.

Three others with Tulane ties are competing in the Olympic games. Incoming freshman runner Tharushi Karunarathna will compete in the 800 meters for Sri Lanka when track and field starts later this week.

Thad Lettsome served as one of the flag bearers for the British Virgin Islands in the opening ceremony and will compete in sailing in the men's one person dinghy (ILCA 7) laser.

Tulane women’s assistant basketball coach Rene Wakama is the head coach for the Nigerian National Women's Team in Pool B.