Hijikata Poised For Olympic Debut

In three years, Rinky Hijikata has gone from University of North Carolina All-America to Grand Slam champion and now Olympian.

Hijikata, an All-America in singles at Carolina in 2020-21, is set to be the first Tar Heel tennis player to play in the Olympic Games beginning this week in Paris. A native of Willoughby, New South Wales, Australia, he will make his Olympic debut for his home country during tennis competition from July 27 through August 4.

Hijikata starred at Carolina during the 2020 and 2021 seasons. He arrived in Chapel Hill as a freshman only to see the season cut short shortly thereafter by the covid 19 pandemic.

A regular near the top of the Tar Heel lineup in both singles and doubles as a sophomore in '21, he helped the Tar Heels win the 2021 ITA National Indoor Championship and reach the outdoor NCAA Championship round of 16 before turning professional that summer.

Hijikata earned an at-large bid to the 2021 NCAA singles championship and advanced to the round of 16, earning All-America honors in his first full collegiate season.

He made his pro debut in 2022 and made his Grand Slam debut that summer in the US Open as a wildcard entry. Six months later, Hijikata won his first Grand Slam singles match and teamed with fellow Australian Jason Kubler to win the 2023 Australian Open doubles title. He's currently ranked No. 76 in the ATP singles rankings.

"It's been great," Hijikata said of his whirlwind success. "Obviously, after I left UNC it's been a pretty crazy ride so far. I've had new experiences every single week along the way, and I've just been trying to learn as much as I can."

The Paris games will mark the 37th year of Olympic Tennis, featuring competition in men's singles (64-player field), women's singles (64), men's doubles (32), women's doubles (32) and mixed doubles (16). Hijikata will compete in singles.

"I strongly believe that if you can perform under pressure in college tennis, then there's not really going to be a stage in the world where you're going to be fazed. I think I learned how to play under pressure really well [when I was at UNC], and obviously we had a very strong team when I was here and I had very good players to practice against day in, day out.

"With Coach [Sam] Paul and Tripp [Phillips], I can't say enough good things about them, and I definitely wouldn't be in the position I am today without them. The amount of hours they spent on court with me was probably pretty ridiculous.

"They didn't have to be out there from early in the morning until late in the evening every day with me. But they were always out there, always willing to do whatever it took to put me in a better position and help me improve. I'll be forever grateful to both of them."

Rinky preparing for @Olympics 🥇@TennisAustralia beginning July 27 at Roland Garros #Paris2024 pic.twitter.com/xfWc1RP4rO
— Carolina Men's Tennis 🐏🎾 (@carolinatennis) July 19, 2024

Schedule
• Play will start at noon on Saturday July 27 on 12 courts, including Roland Garros' three stadium courts – Philippe Chatrier, Suzanne Lenglen and Simonne Matheiu.
• Men's and women's singles and men's and women's doubles will begin on Saturday July 27. Mixed doubles will begin on Monday July 29.

Format
• In both the men's and women's competitions, there are a maximum of six players per country, of which a maximum of four may compete in the singles event, a maximum of two teams may compete in the doubles event and one team in the mixed doubles.
• Each competition features a knockout draw. Singles matches are best-of-three tiebreak sets. In doubles, if the score is tied at one set all, a 10-point tiebreaker will be played to determine the winner.
• In all events, the semifinal winners play to decide the gold and silver medals and the semifinal losers play for the bronze.

Olympic Tennis History
• Tennis appeared on the Olympic program in Athens in 1886 and remained until the Paris games in 1924. It returned at Seoul in 1988. Mixed doubles were added in London in 2012.

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