Four Grand Slams & an Olympics: the Tennis action on Centre Court in 2024
Updated: Aug 27
Wimbledon, Roland Garros, Melbourne, New York and the rest of the venues of the tennis season were greeted with enthralling action all year round.
From emotional farewells to the success of young talents and the quad-annual Olympics, competition has been rich. Here’s a round up of the main action on the grass, clay and hardcourt in 2024.
Sinner and Alcaraz dominate the men’s Slam singles, Sabalenka sees success in Australia and America
Current male world number one Jannik Sinner and young Spanish prodigy Carlos Alcaraz won two Grand Slams a piece in 2024, with Sinner winning the first and last in Australia and America, and Alcaraz clinching success in the summer in France and at Wimbledon. 2024 is the first year in over 20 that a Grand Slam was not won by one of the ‘Big Four’ (Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray). By the end of the year, Djokovic is the only one of the four to still be hitting the court, ending the year seventh in the rankings. Djokovic won gold in the men’s singles at the Olympics after defeating Alcaraz in straight sets, following Alcaraz’s comfortable retainment of his Wimbledon title against Djokovic a month prior. Italian Lorenzo Musetti achieved bronze at the Olympics, making him one to watch as he ended the year ranked in the top 20. Sinner also won the ATP Singles Finals against America’s Taylor Fritz, asserting his spot at the top of the rankings.
Aryna Sabalenka has seen the most success in the WTA during 2024, winning the women’s singles competition at the Australian and US Opens whilst finishing top of the world rankings. In June, the French Open was won by Iga Swiatek, who also achieved bronze at the Olympics. Barbora Krejčíková was triumphant at Wimbledon, beating Jasmine Paolini two sets to one on Centre Court. Paolini came agonisingly close to winning a Grand Slam in 2024, losing in the final in two successive months at the French Open and Wimbledon. Qinwen Zheng became the first player to win an Olympic gold in the tennis singles for China, recovering perfectly from her defeat in the Australian Open final, overcoming Croatian opponent Donna Vekić. Zheng lost the WTA Singles Finals to America’s Coco Gauff, who became the first American to win the finals since Serena Williams 10 years ago.
Murray and Nadal follow Federer and hang up their racquets
After 20 years in the limelight of professional tennis, both Britain’s Andy Murray and Spain’s Rafael Nadal retired from the sport. Following Spain’s premature exit of the Davis Cup in the first round, Nadal ended his illustrious career - winning an incredible 22 Grand Slams, 92 singles titles and was world number one in the ATP rankings for 209 weeks. Nadal was famous for his skills on the clay surface, amassing an 81-match consecutive winning streak on clay which is the longest single-surface win streak in the Open Era.
Murray’s career came to an end after a short season riddled with ongoing injuries, but his thrilling final games in the Olympics reminded the tennis world of his talent and determination which made the ‘Big Three’ switch to the ‘Big Four’. The Briton opted to play in the doubles with his brother Jamie Murray at Wimbledon, where he previously won two singles Grand Slam titles. Murray was also due to play in a fan-favourite doubles pairing with Britain’s women’s tennis star Emma Raducanu, but Raducanu pulled out due to her own ongoing injuries. Murray's last hurrah on the court was in a riveting doubles campaign at the Olympics in Paris with compatriot Dan Evans. The pair fought valiantly to the quarter finals where they lost to the third seed American pair. In a surprise move, Murray recently announced that he will be coaching long-time rival Novak Djokovic for the Australian Open in 2025 as he bids to become champion once again.
Bright future for British tennis ahead with Raducanu, Draper and Boulter at the helm
2024 saw the rise of widely undiscovered British prodigies in tennis. Following Murray’s retirement, Jack Draper seemed to have taken on the mantle of the leading British male as he impressively reached the US Open semi-final where he fought hard against Jannik Sinner, being ill in the process. Draper won his maiden ATP title at the Stuttgart Open and followed the US Open by winning the Vienna Open. Draper ends 2024 in the world top 20, with high hopes for the new year having had standout moments like defeating Alcaraz in straight sets at Queen’s Club.
Emma Raducanu, the already successful young player after her 2021 US Open title, returned to the courts after a previous injury-stricken season which saw her undergo wrist and ankle surgery. The Brit reached only the second round in Australia and America and withdrew from the French Open. Her best performance came at Wimbledon where she reached the fourth round, defeating the then 9th ranked Maria Sakkari to regain her spot in the top 100.
With Raducanu being the face of female British tennis, Katie Boulter’s achievements in 2024 have flown under the radar as she journeyed to reach 23rd in the world rankings by the end of the year. In the WTA tour, Boulter won the San Diego Open as well as retaining her Nottingham Open tour in June. On her way to maintaining her crown, Boulter defeated compatriot Raducanu in the semi-finals. Boulter took part in both the women’s singles and doubles at the Olympics, but a first-round defeat in the singles shifted attention to her and teammate Heather Watson’s doubles campaign to the quarterfinals, where they lost to the future gold-medallist Italian pair. Boulter’s skills were demonstrated this season and has set her up with possibilities for success in 2025.
Clean sweep for Italy at the Davis and Billie Jean King Cups to close out the year
Italy defended their Davis Cup title after they fought off against the Netherlands (the Dutch side’s first appearance at the final), with the Italian squad featuring the season’s stars Sinner and Musetti. Britain, with Draper and Evans in the team, hosted their group stage in Manchester but failed to progress to the next round.
In the Billie Jean King Cup, Italy reached successive finals but became champions in 2024 as they beat Slovakia (their first appearance in the final since 2002). The British side reached the semi-finals but lost to Slovakia after Boulter was defeated in her singles match and Britain losing in the doubles, despite Raducanu comfortably winning her singles match - reaffirming her talents in the sport yet again.
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