Explained: How to qualify for 2028 LA Olympics in Tennis?

The Olympic Qualification System (OQS) for tennis at the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games has been officially confirmed by the International Tennis Federation (ITF), detailing how players and teams will qualify across all five events. 

Tennis at LA28 will feature men’s singles, women’s singles, men’s doubles, women’s doubles and mixed doubles. A total of 172 athletes will compete, with 86 quota places for men and 86 for women, including host nation and universality places.

Under the approved quota structure, tennis has 82 standard quota places per gender, plus three host country places per gender and one universality place per gender, taking the total to 86 men and 86 women.

Host quota places are subject to reallocation if host-nation athletes qualify through the normal qualification routes.

Each National Olympic Committee (NOC) may enter a maximum of six athletes per gender, meaning no more than 12 athletes per nation across all events at LA28.

Tennis competition at the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games will take place between 14 and 30 July 2028.

How players can qualify for tennis at the LA28 Olympics

Qualification for tennis is built primarily around ATP and WTA rankings, with a dedicated cut-off date in June 2028. The ITF defines the “Singles Rankings” and “Doubles Rankings” as the official ATP and WTA rankings published on 12 June 2028, which will be used to determine qualification.

For the singles events, each draw will consist of 64 players, with a maximum of four athletes per NOC. A total of 64 men and 64 women will qualify as follows:

56 players per gender through direct acceptance based on singles rankings

• 1 host country place per gender
• 6 final qualification places (known as ITF Places) per gender
• 1 universality place per gender

The largest portion of the field comes through direct acceptance, with the top-ranked eligible players automatically qualifying.

The six ITF Places per gender are divided between two separate routes. Four places are reserved for continental qualification winners from the Asian Games, Pan American Games, African Games and Pacific Games, provided the athlete is ranked inside the top 500 and their NOC quota has not already been filled through direct acceptance.

If a player qualifies both through continental competition and rankings, the continental place is used instead.

The remaining two ITF Places per gender are reserved for players who have previously won an Olympic singles gold medal or a Grand Slam singles title, again subject to being ranked inside the top 500 and subject to their NOC not having filled its quota.

If more than two players meet this criterion, the places are decided by the total number of Olympic and Grand Slam singles titles, with rankings used as a tie-breaker where required.

Doubles and mixed doubles qualification 

For the men’s and women’s doubles events, each draw will consist of 32 teams, meaning 64 athletes per gender, with a maximum of two teams per NOC.

A total of 31 teams qualify through direct acceptance and one team may qualify through a host country place in each event.

Doubles qualification is determined in stages. Priority is first given to players ranked inside the top 10 of the doubles rankings, provided their nominated partner meets ranking and eligibility requirements and the nomination does not exceed the maximum athlete and team limits per NOC.

Additional places are then allocated using the team’s Combined Ranking, which is calculated by adding together each player’s best singles or doubles ranking.

If further places are still required, allocation continues using a defined singles priority process that favours teams whose players are already accepted into the singles draw.

The mixed doubles event will feature 16 teams in total, with a maximum of one team per NOC. Teams are only eligible if both players are already accepted into the singles and/or doubles events.

Mixed doubles qualification consists of 15 direct acceptance teams based on the Combined Ranking and one host country team, which is used only if the host nation does not already qualify a team through direct acceptance.

Eligibility rules and key dates

All athletes must comply with the Olympic Charter and ITF regulations, and may only be nominated by NOCs whose national tennis associations are ITF members in good standing. Any quota place remains conditional on the athlete continuing to meet all eligibility requirements.

The key ranking date for tennis qualification is 12 June 2028, which will be the first published ATP and WTA rankings after the conclusion of Roland Garros. The ITF will confirm the list of qualified athletes to NOCs by 14 June 2028.

NOCs must confirm their use of quota places and submit nominations for doubles events by 20 June 2028, after which the ITF will begin reallocation of unused quota places.

All reallocations must be completed by 26 June 2028, which is also the final sport entries deadline for the LA28 Olympic Games.