Paris 2024: What the French Open can teach us about the Olympics and Paralympics

It's hard to ignore Iga Swiatek winning the women's singles gold medal.

The 23-year-old has won four Grand Slam titles since the last Olympics in 2021, with three of those victories coming on the clay courts of Roland Garros.

After the match, Paolini told Swiatek that facing her in Paris would be “the toughest challenge in the sport,” and she wasn't wrong.

The victory in the final extended Poland's winning streak at Roland Garros to 21 matches.

For Swiatek, the win also capped a dominant season on clay courts, following victories in Madrid and Rome, making her just the second player to win the 'Triple Crown' in a calendar year, after Serena Williams.

Even Swiatek's three closest ranked rivals – Aryna Sabalenka, Coco Gauff and Jelena Rybakina – have not been able to beat her on this surface this year.

It will be hard to keep her away from the gold medal.

The only thing missing from Novak Djokovic's trophy collection is an Olympic gold medal.

And at 37 years old, time seems running out for the Serb to achieve Olympic victory.

Djokovic said in April that Paris 2024 was his “priority” this year.

However, her Olympic dream was thwarted when she had to withdraw from the quarter-finals of the French Open due to a torn medial meniscus in her right knee.

Not only does this end Djokovic's hopes of winning a record 25th Grand Slam title, but it also means he faces a race against time to get himself fit for the Olympics.

Djokovic won a bronze medal at the 2008 Beijing Games but has lost in the third-place playoffs twice in his three Olympic appearances since then.

Longtime rivals Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray have both won gold medals in the men's singles, while Roger Federer won silver in 2012.

While Swiatek is the favorite to win the gold medal in the women's competition, the men's competition is harder to predict.

Even if Djokovic is in good shape for the Olympics, the 24-time Grand Slam champion has struggled this year and has failed to reach a final.

Carlos Alcaraz won the tournament that many thought he was a sure bet for the first time and will head into the Olympics as the reigning French Open champion.

But it wasn't easy for the Spaniard, who needed five sets to beat Jannik Sinner in the semi-finals and then was held to five sets by Alexander Zverev in the final.

Runner-up Zverev is the defending Olympic champion and the German will be boosted in confidence by reaching this final after failing to win his previous three semi-finals in Paris.

New world number one Sinner had his best performance in the French capital, while fellow semi-finalist Kasper Ruud is also considered the favourite to win having reached two of the last three Roland Garros finals.

This year's French Open was a tournament British singles players would like to forget.

Six Britons – Andy Murray, Katie Boulter, Cameron Norrie, Jack Draper, Dan Evans and Harriet Dart – all lost their opening matches over the first three days.

Murray, a two-time Olympic gold medalist, came close to winning the French Open in 2016 but lost to Djokovic in the final.

The 37-year-old said earlier this year that he “doesn't plan on playing much beyond this summer,” meaning Paris 2024 is likely to be his final chance to play in the Olympics.

When it comes to tennis, Team GB may have a better chance of winning the Paralympics.

The pair have won 20 Grand Slam titles together and will be eager to surpass their silver medal results in 2016 and 2020.

Hewett, ranked number one in the world, is also hoping to win gold in the singles after losing to Reed at the 2016 Rio Olympics.

He lost in the semifinals of the singles at this year's French Open, where Japanese teenager Tokito Oda won for the second consecutive year.