The Top 4 US Tennis Players Opted Out of Paris Olympics

The top four ranked tennis players in the United States opted out of the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.

Madison Keys is among the players who opted out of the Olympics. / Susan Mullane-USA TODAY Sports

Every four years, the Summer Olympics either provides a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for a tennis player or a massive scheduling conflict. This year, the Paris Olympics appears to be creating more headaches for players.

Due to the ricochet nature of switching from clay to grass back to clay, some players are opting out of either Wimbledon while even more are declining the chance to represent their country in the Summer Games.

On Thursday evening, the U.S. Tennis Association announced the list of eight players it is sending to Paris. Conversely, media members began reverse-engineering the list of players who opted out of the quadrennial event.

Unfortunately for American tennis fans, that includes the country's top four ranked players. Madison Keys, Ben Shelton, Sebastian Korda, and Frances Tiafoe decided not to play in the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.

Madison Keys, Ben Shelton, Sebastian Korda and Frances Tiafoe *all* opted NOT to play the Olympics in Paris despite being US top 4 players.

Giron, Eubanks, Navarro in.

— José Morgado (@josemorgado) June 20, 2024

The four Americans are not the only top-ranked players who made the difficult decision to pass on the Paris Olympics. Aryna Sabalenka, Ons Jabeur, and Andrey Rublev are just some of the elite players who are deciding to focus on Wimbledon instead.

While Team USA will feature six first-time Olympians, the Paris Games will also serve as the swan song for legends like Rafael Nadal and possibly Andy Murray as well as Novak Djokovic.

The tennis tournaments of the 2024 Olympic Games will take place from July 27 to August 4 on the clay courts of Roland Garros. It is the first time that Olympic tennis has been played on clay since 1992 in Barcelona. Tennis fans can follow Sports Illustrated's Serve on SI for all the most important news from the sport.

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