ITF Announces Direct Acceptance List for Olympic Tennis
Event
The ITF announced today the direct acceptance list for the
2008 Olympic Tennis Event in singles and doubles. For both
men and women, this is the strongest field ever to enter the
Olympic Tennis Event since tennis returned as a full medal
sport in Seoul 1988.
Led by the world No. 1s, Roger Federer of Switzerland and
Ana Ivanovic of Serbia, 17 of the top 20 men and 18 of the
top 20 women will compete in Beijing.
Fifty-six players are entered based on their singles ranking
of 9 June 2008, following Roland Garros, with a limit of four
singles players per gender per country. Players must also
be in good standing with their National Association and have
met the minimum participation requirements for Davis Cup and
Fed Cup.
All five of the top men will compete in Beijing. In the top
twenty only Andy Roddick (USA) and Richard Gasquet (FRA) declined
to participate and Fernando Verdasco (ESP) is ineligible because
he is the fifth qualified player from Spain. Seven of the
top ten women will compete in Beijing with only Anna Chakvetadze
(RUS) declining to participate and Marion Bartoli (FRA) who
is ineligible.
Some men players included in the direct acceptance list have
qualified under the ITF’s entry criteria, approved by
the International Olympic Committee, but their entry has not
yet been confirmed by their respective National Olympic Committees.
The ITF continues to object to the exclusion of these players
who have worked hard to establish their ranking which is a
fair, transparent and equitable means for entry for tennis
athletes. The ITF is discussing this situation with the International
Olympic Committee, who approved its entry criteria, with the
hope that this situation will be resolved in favour of these
deserving players.
In addition, included is a list of the first three eligible
men and women who will enter the draw if there is a withdrawal
by a player whose country does not have a qualified alternate.
The Olympic Tennis Event will be played from Sunday, 10 August,
through Sunday, 17 August, 2008 at the new Olympic Tennis
Center in Beijing, China. The 2004 Olympic gold medallists
were Nicolas Massu (CHI), Justine Henin (BEL), Fernando Gonzalez/Nicolas
Massu (CHI) and Ting Li/Tian Tian Sun (CHN). Tennis was a
part of the first modern Olympic Games in 1896. The first
woman to win an Olympic medal in any sport was tennis player
Charlotte Cooper (GBR) at the 1900 Olympic Games in Paris.
After the 1924 Paris Games, tennis withdrew from the Olympics
but returned as a demonstration event in 1984 Los Angeles
and returned as a full medal sport in 1988 Seoul.
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