PARIS/STARNBERG, August 3, 2024
Qinwen Zheng became the first player from China, P.R. to win a singles gold medal at the Olympic Tennis Event with victory over Donna Vekic from Croatia in the women’s singles final, before Italian Lorenzo Musetti overcame Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada to win the men’s singles bronze medal in the final match of the day at Roland Garros.
Qinwen Queen of Paris! 👑🥇
Qinwen Zheng becomes the first Chinese player to ever win a singles gold medal at the Olympic Tennis Event!#Paris2024 | #Olympics | #tennis pic.twitter.com/ZNYR2lND8N
— ITF (@ITFTennis) August 3, 2024
“I had a lot of nerves [in the Australian Open final]. I feel my legs were super heavy. I couldn’t perform 50 percent of my level. But this final was different,” said Zheng. “It’s because of this calmness and patience that I was able to get the victory. I see [other athletes] winning gold, silver and bronze medals for China. And I want to be one of them.”
Vekic said: “I’m extremely proud and happy to have won a medal for Croatia. It’s been my lifelong dream. Yesterday has been one of the happiest days of my life. Of course I’m a little bit disappointed because I wanted gold, but I’m still so happy and so proud.”
Earlier, the Aussie duo of Matthew Ebden and John Peers defeated USA’s Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram to win the men’s doubles gold medal, becoming the second Australian pair to achieve the feat after Mark Woodforde and Todd Woodbridge at Atlanta 1996.
“It’s a blur, we’re a bit lost for words,” said Ebden. “It was a super tough match, a really high-quality match. We were up against it, we were down a set and a break. It was not looking good. We were losing for sure, but we kept believing, kept fighting, kept hanging strong. The crowd lifted us big time when we got the break back. [John] played an amazing super tie-break and somehow we are gold medallists. It’s more than a dream.”
PARIS 2024 OLYMPIC TENNIS EVENT MEDALLISTS
Women’s Singles
Gold Medal: Zheng Qinwen (CHN)
Silver Medal: Donna Vekic (CRO)
Bronze Medal: Iga Swiatek (POL)
Men’s Singles
Bronze Medal: Lorenzo Musetti (ITA)
Men’s Doubles
Gold Medal: Matthew Ebden/John Peers (AUS)
Silver Medal: Austin Krajicek/Rajeev Ram (USA)
Bronze Medal: Taylor Fritz/Tommy Paul (USA)
Mixed Doubles
Gold Medal: Katerina Siniakova/Tomas Machac (CZE)
Silver Medal: Wang Xinyu/Zhang Zhizhen (CHN)
Bronze Medal: Gabriela Dabrowski/Felix Auger-Aliassime (CAN)
