Iga Swiatek has moved to the top of the standings in the Olympics Race, eclipsing previous leader Coco Gauff.
Athletes who intend to compete in the Olympic tennis tournament must follow ITF eligibility rules. Additionally, WTA rankings, as of June 10th, 2024, will determine the Top 56 players who will qualify for the showpiece event, which will be in line with the Olympics Race.
This race began accumulating points in mid-June of last year and will continue to do so for the rest of the 52-week window. Swiatek has risen to the top this week after her successful title defense at the Qatar Open. She defeated Elena Rybakina in the final and amassed 1000 points.
Swiatek takes her tally to 5,990 points, which is 125 ahead of Gauff, who suffered a shock second-round exit at the hands of Katerina Siniakova in Doha. Aryna Sabalenka is in third spot with 5,755 points. The Belarusian missed the first WTA 1000 tournament in Qatar's capital.
Jessica Pegula is the second-ranked American woman in the Top 10 and sits in fourth spot. But she announced her withdrawal from the Middle East swing. That opens up an opportunity for Rybakina to move up to fourth spot at this week's Dubai Championships.
Marketa Vondrousova sits in sixth spot, with Qinwen Zheng in seventh. The Chinese woman has already booked her ticket for the 2024 Paris Olympics courtesy of winning the Asian Games last year.
Ons Jabeur remains the highest-ranked African woman in eighth spot. Latvia's Jelena Ostapenko and Greece's Maria Sakkari round up the Top 10. The defending Olympic champion is Belinda Bencic, but the Swiss woman is unlikely to feature as she is currently pregnant.
Petra Kvitova is another WTA player who will most certainly miss the tournament because of pregnancy. But the Czech Republic has many representatives in the Top 56, so some talented names might miss the Games. Only the four best-ranked are allowed to compete per nation.
The 2024 Olympics tennis tournament will be held at Stade Roland Garros, which is the home of the French Open - one of the four Grand Slam tournaments on the tennis calendar and will officially begin on July 27th, 2024.
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