Tennis stars Ben Shelton, Frances Tiafoe, Sebastian Korda to skip 2024 Paris Olympics

Taylor Fritz is in. Ben Shelton is out. Tommy Paul is in. Frances Tiafoe and Sebastian Korda are out.

The Olympic tennis tournament scheduled for late July has been the subject of plenty of consternation among the top American men’s players these past months, with several athletes wrestling with the idea of taking a pass.

It became official Thursday, with the names of several of the best and best-known American players deciding to skip Paris, including both Shelton and Tiafoe, arguably the two biggest stars on the men’s side and America’s third- and fifth-ranked players.

Now playing in Paris 🎾

Your Paris 2024 men's U.S. Olympic Tennis Team.#ParisOlympics pic.twitter.com/GHt8fddRiq

— Team USA (@TeamUSA) June 20, 2024

In addition to Fritz and Paul, Chris Eubanks, a quarterfinalist at Wimbledon last year who is currently ranked No. 44, and Marcos Giron, No. 53 in the rankings, will play singles for the U.S. Rajeev Ram and Austin Krajicek will play doubles.

The players who are skipping Paris — notably Tiafoe, Shelton and Korda — have all cited versions of the same reasons as other players who have recently announced they will not play the event, including Aryna Sabalenka and Ons Jabeur: The tournament will take place on the red clay of Roland Garros. That will force players to shift from the grass of Wimbledon back to the red clay where they competed during April, May and part of June, and then onto the hard courts of the North American swing in August.

That is an awkward combination.

Also, Tiafoe and Shelton have never had much success on Europe’s red clay and prefer to focus on the hard courts where they have produced their best results. The Olympic tournament also conflicts with Tiafoe’s hometown Citi Open in Washington, D.C.

Finally, with the Olympic tournament taking place in Los Angeles in 2028, the players are banking on still being able to make the team in four years.

On the women’s side, all of the top Americans have decided to play. That includes Coco Gauff, Jessica Pegula, Danielle Collins and Emma Navarro. Desirae Krawczyk will pair with Collins to play doubles.

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(Photo: Daniel Kopatsch / Getty Images)