British tennis star Emma Raducanu will not play tennis at the Olympic Games in Paris, with fans wanting to know why she snubbed the clay-court event. Raducanu could’ve featured at the Olympic tennis tournament after being offered a spot by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) – who always reserve two places for former Grand Slam champions – but the 2021 US Open winner turned it down.

When it does, Paris will become just the second city after London to host the Olympics three times. The French capital was the venue for the second-ever Olympics in the year 1900 and then hosted the Games almost exactly 100 years ago in 1924.

French security forces began locking down large parts of central Paris on Thursday ahead of the hugely complex Olympics opening ceremony next week on the river Seine. The opening parade along six kilometres (four miles) of the river led to the closure of riverside central districts to most vehicles from 5:00 am (0300 GMT) on Thursday.