Pacific Games in Olympic qualification pathway for first time
Olympic hopefuls within the Pacific Oceania region have been handed a major boost with the Pacific Games part of the qualification pathway for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Tennis Event.
The Pan-American, Asian and African Games have previously seen the men’s and women’s singles winners qualify for an ITF Place at the next Olympics, provided those players meet certain criteria.
The Olympic qualification cycle for the next Games – Los Angeles 2028 – will for the first time feature the Pacific Games, which take place from 24 July – 8 August 2027 in Tahiti.
The men’s and women’s singles winners from all four regional Games will therefore seal a place at the 2028 Olympic Games so long as they are within the Top 500 of the singles rankings.
At the last Olympic Games regional champions needed to be within the Top 400. The change ahead of the 2028 Games has widened opportunity and given players around the world a bigger chance to chase their dreams of competing at the Olympics.
The other criterion is that the quota of four athletes per nation has not already been filled by direct acceptance – automatic qualification will be based on the ATP and WTA singles rankings of 12 June 2028.
The first ITF places for the next Olympic Games will be determined at the 2026 Asian Games, which will be held in Aichi Prefecture and Nagoya from 19 September – 4 October. The remaining continental places will be decided in 2027.
Zheng Qinwen, who proceeded to win women’s singles gold at the Paris 2024 Olympic Tennis Event, and Zhang Zhizhen – both of China, P.R. – were the singles winners at the 2023 Asian Games.
While both players would also have qualified directly through their singles ranking, someone like Laura Pigossi of Brazil would not. Pigossi, who won bronze in the women's doubles at Tokyo 2020, reached Paris 2024 solely through winning the women's singles event at the 2023 Pan-American Games.
In total, six ITF places will be available at the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Tennis Event in both the men’s and women’s draw. Four of those places are reserved for regional champions.
The other two are given to former Olympic gold medallists or Grand Slam champions who do not qualify automatically. Andy Murray and Stan Wawrinka qualified for the Paris 2024 Olympic Tennis Event via this route.