Paris Olympics: What to know, who to watch during the tennis competition

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FILE - Rafael Nadal of Spain reacts to winning a point against Fernando Gonzalez of Chile during their Gold medal singles tennis match at the Beijing 2008 Olympics in Beijing, Sunday, Aug. 17, 2008.(AP Photo/Elise Amendola, File)

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FILE - Serbia’s Novak Djokovic displays his bronze medal won in singles tennis at the Beijing 2008 Olympics in Beijing, Sunday, Aug. 17, 2008. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola, File)

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FILE - Coco Gauff of the U.S. eyes the ball as she plays a shot against Poland’s Iga Swiatek during their semifinal match of the French Open tennis tournament at the Roland Garros stadium in Paris, Thursday, June 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus, File)

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FILE - Japan’s Naomi Osaka plays a shot against Italy’s Lucia Bronzetti during their first round match of the French Open tennis tournament at the Roland Garros stadium in Paris, Sunday, May 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena, File)

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FILE - The crowd watch Austria’s Dominic Thiem serving to Spain’s Rafael Nadal during the men’s final match of the French Open tennis tournament Roland Garros stadium in Paris, Sunday, June 10, 2018. The same courts used for the French Open each year — usually from late May to early June — will host tennis at these Olympics, so it’s a surface and site familiar to the athletes, but they’ll be making the unusual transition from the grass at Wimbledon to the clay at Roland Garros.(AP Photo/Christophe Ena)

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FILE - Spain’s Rafael Nadal waves as he leaves the court after losing against Germany’s Alexander Zverev during their first round match of the French Open tennis tournament at Roland Garros stadium in Paris, Monday, May 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Jean-Francois Badias, File)

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FILE - Britain’s Andy Murray waves to the Center Court crowd as he leaves following his first round doubles loss at the Wimbledon tennis championships in London, Thursday, July 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

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FILE - Iga Swiatek, of Poland, returns to Mona Barthel, of Germany, during the tennis competition at the 2020 Summer Olympics, Saturday, July 24, 2021, in Tokyo, Japan. Swiatek bowed out in the second round at the Tokyo Olympics. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File)

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FILE - Poland’s Iga Swiatek celebrates as she won the women’s final of the French Open tennis tournament against Italy’s Jasmine Paolini at Roland Garros stadium in Paris, France, Saturday, June 8, 2024. The same courts used for the French Open each year — usually from late May to early June — will host tennis at these Olympics. (AP Photo/Jean-Francois Badias, File)

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FILE - Coco Gauff of the U.S. plays a shot against Poland’s Iga Swiatek during their semifinal match of the French Open tennis tournament at the Roland Garros stadium in Paris, Thursday, June 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Jean-Francois Badias, File)

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FILE - Novak Djokovic, of Serbia, walks to the bench to get a new racket during the bronze medal match of the tennis competition against Pablo Carreno Busta, of Spain, at the 2020 Summer Olympics, Saturday, July 31, 2021, in Tokyo, Japan. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)

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FILE - Gold medalist Andy Murray of Great Britain waves the British flag during the medal ceremony of the men’s singles event at the All England Lawn Tennis Club at Wimbledon, in London, at the 2012 Summer Olympics, Sunday, Aug. 5, 2012. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola, File)

A roadmap to follow for the tennis competition at the Paris Olympics:

Athletes to Watch

— Rafael Nadal, Spain: He already owns gold medals in singles (2008) and doubles (2016 with Marc López), to go alongside his 22 Grand Slam titles, and he is dominant on red clay, but has been dealing with injuries and is nearing the end of his career. This could be his adieu to tennis.

— Andy Murray, Britain: He’s the only player with two singles gold medals in tennis (2012 and 2016) and, at age 37 and after a series of injuries, has said this Olympics will be the last event of his career. The hitch: He had surgery to remove a cyst from his spine in June.

— Iga Swiatek, Poland: The dominant figure in women’s tennis since 2022, with four of her five Grand Slam titles at Roland Garros — the latest coming this June — bowed out in the second round at the Tokyo Olympics.

— Novak Djokovic, Serbia: Winner of a men’s-record 24 Grand Slam singles trophies but hoping to claim an Olympic gold medal for the first time (he earned a bronze in 2008).

— Coco Gauff, United States: She made the U.S. Olympic team for Tokyo at age 17 but was a late withdrawal after testing positive for COVID-19.

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Storylines to Follow

— The same courts used for the French Open each year — usually from late May to early June — will host tennis at the Olympics, so it’s a surface and site familiar to the athletes, but they’ll be making the unusual transition from the grass at Wimbledon to the clay at Roland Garros.

— No one has had more success at Court Philippe Chatrier than Nadal, whose 14 championships at the French Open are the most for a man or woman at any major tennis tournament. But he has been dealing with hip and abdominal injuries that limited him to four matches in all of 2023 and just 12 matches through the first five months of this year. He lost in the first round of the French Open.

— Will players such as Djokovic, Swiatek, Gauff or Naomi Osaka (Japan) — who’s never been a fan of clay — earn a first Olympic gold? Or will someone without a Grand Slam title come through, the way Belinda Bencic (Switzerland) and Alexander Zverev (Germany) did at Tokyo three years ago?

Key Dates

— First-round matches begin July 27.

— Gold medals start being awarded Aug. 2, with mixed doubles. The golds for women’s singles and men’s doubles will be determined Aug. 3. The golds for men’s singles and women’s doubles will be won on Aug. 4.

Reigning Champions

— Women’s Singles: Belinda Bencic, Switzerland

— Women’s Doubles: Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova, Czech Republic

— Men’s Singles: Alexander Zverev, Germany

— Men’s Doubles: Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic, Croatia

— Mixed Doubles: Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Andrey Rublev, Russia

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AP Summer Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games

Olympic Hightlights

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FILE - South Africa’s Jacques Freitag competes in the men’s high jump of the 2004 Olympic Games, in the Olympic Stadium in Athens, Friday Aug. 20, 2004. Local media is reporting that South African police have discovered the body of former high jump world champion Jacques Freitag after he went missing last month. The reports said the 42-year-old, who won the 2003 world title in Paris and competed at the 2004 Olympics, had been shot. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip, File)

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FILE - Ilona Maher of USA is tackled by Sharni Williams of Australia in a semifinal of the Rugby World Cup 7’s championship held in Cape Town, South Africa, Sunday, Sept. 11, 2022. The main task for Maher, the breakout social media star on TikTok at the Tokyo Olympics, is winning a medal in Paris. (AP Photo/Halden Krog, File)

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FILE - Jacques Freitag of South Africa waves his national flag after he won the Men’s high jump event at the World Athletics Championships, at the Stade de France in Saint Denis, north of Paris, Monday, Aug. 25, 2003. Local media is reporting that South African police have discovered the body of former high jump world champion Jacques Freitag after he went missing last month. The reports said the 42-year-old, who won the 2003 world title in Paris and competed at the 2004 Olympics, had been shot. (AP Photo/Thomas Kienzle, File)

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Sammy Sullivan of USA in action during HSBC rugby sevens series in Singapore, on May 4, 2024. The anthem played as Army officer Sammy Sullivan stood to attention and saluted beside her U.S. rugby teammates before a gold-medal game in Hong Kong against Olympic champion New Zealand. No prizes for guessing where her mind may have drifted to: Paris in July. (AP Photo/Suhaimi Abdullah)

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USA Water Polo Women’s Senior National Team attacker Ryann Neushul, left, trains at Long Beach City College Thursday, Jan. 18, 2024, in Long Beach, Calif. Following in the footsteps of two older sisters who won gold with the U.S. women’s water polo team, Ryann Neushul is making her Olympic debut in Paris this summer. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

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Iranian wrestler Iman Mahdavi, 28, practices at the Lotta Club Seggiano gym, in Pioltello , northern Italy, Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

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FILE - Steven van de Velde of the Netherlands competes during the CEV Beach Volley Nations Cup Vienna 2022 men’s semifinal game against Austria at the Red Bull Beach Arena in Vienna, Austria, Sunday, Aug. 7, 2022. Van de Velde, convicted and imprisoned eight years ago for raping an underage girl in England has qualified for the Paris Olympics. (AP Photo/Florian Schroetter, File)