The 2024 Citi Open has a relatively unlucky spot in the calendar this year, but that still doesn't mean that it couldn't attract star players.
Held during the period when the Olympic Games in Paris are played, the organizers of the WTA 500 tournament in Washington knew they were facing a mammoth task when trying to attract the best of the best this year.
One thing that helped them was the fact that many players weren't willing to switch from clay to grass only to return to clay again for the Olympics, just to switch immediately to hard courts after that.
Such frequent and drastic surface changes aren't good for players' bodies, and that's why many opted to skip the 2024 Paris Olympics, forming a really solid entry list for the 2024 Citi Open in Washington, running from July 29th to August 4th.
Last year, Coco Gauff won the title in Washington, but she won't defend it this year, as she's set to represent the United States in the French capital. In her absence, the top seed will be Aryna Sabalenka.
The Belarusian is one of the high-profile players who have decided to skip the Olympic Games, and she will use it to start her hard-court swing in the United States early, as will many other players.
Because of their neutrality at the Olympics, and reasons connected to that, many Russian and Belarusian athletes won't compete in Paris, and instead, they chose to travel to Washington.
That includes Daria Kasatkina, Liudmila Samsnonova, Anna Kalinskaya, Victoria Azarenka, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Veronika Kudermetova, and Anastasia Potapova, as nine of the initially entered 20 players come from either Russia or Belarus.
Still, in Gauff's absence, home fans will have someone to root for, as Madison Keys will compete in Washington, and so will Sloane Stephens, Caroline Dolehide, Peyton Stearns, and Sofia Kenin.
Ons Jabeur is also one of the players who elected to skip the Olympic Games, even though she played in the Roland Garros final before, possibly having a significant chance to win a medal for her country.
However, the Tunisian didn't want to risk injuring herself, and the same applies to two injury-prone players, Emma Raducanu and Paula Badosa, who have both accepted a wild card entry. The full entry list for the 2024 Citi Open in Washington can be seen below.
| Seed | Player | Entry Ranking |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Aryna Sabalenka | 3 |
| 2 | Daria Kasatkina | 12 |
| 3 | Madison Keys | 14 |
| 4 | Liudmila Samsonova | 13 |
| 5 | Ons Jabeur | 16 |
| 6 | Anna Kalinskaya | 17 |
| 7 | Victoria Azarenka | 20 |
| 8 | Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova | 32 |
| Elise Mertens | 34 | |
| Veronika Kudermetova | 39 | |
| Anastasia Potapova | 41 | |
| Marie Bouzkova | 43 | |
| Karolina Pliskova | 44 | |
| Sloane Stephens | 45 | |
| Lin Zhu | 50 | |
| Caroline Dolehide | 51 | |
| Peyton Stearns | 52 | |
| Sofia Kenin | 55 | |
| Lesia Tsurenko | 90 | |
| Shelby Rogers | 51 (PR) | |
| Paula Badosa | (WC) | |
| Emma Raducanu | (WC) | |
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