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Post Info TOPIC: The Race to Rio


ATP qualifying

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RE: The Race to Rio


In Tomic' case, his disinterest in the Olympics may stem from the fact that the Aussies have said they are unlikely to select him following his press comments along the lines of 'why should I give a damn about tanking when I'm already worth 23 million "



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Challenger level

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Heather's win in Rome R1, combined with losses for almost all around her, makes her very likely to qualify.

The tennis forum table, updated to the end of Madrid, is quite misleading...

www.tennisforum.com/12-general-messages/891506-race-2016-rio-olympics-after-madrid.html

...showing Heather in 56th (last) qualifying position, but with Pennetta and Sharapova above her. So I think 58th is good enough. Heather was previously 78 points to the good of Lucic Baroni in position 59, and with 89 additional points from Rome, so far, should now be up at around 51st place.

This could give Team GB 3 extra medal chances: Heather in singles; it gives JoKo a WD partner; and I presume that Andy and Heather have been playing Hopman Cup for 2 years straight as practice (though Jamie and Jo might have a case).

I suspect that there's quite a lot of LTA funding - in, not out, it never by by-passes the blazers, obvs - dependent on the defence of one gold and one silver from London. And it possibly doesn't matter in which - a MixD gold and a MS silver could be all the same to Sport England, or whatever they're called, for all I know.

At time of going to press, I think Team GB is most likely to consist of AM; JK and HW; AM+JM; JK+HW; AM+HW.

In men's doubles, Dom lacks a partner with a high enough rank. In women's doubles, Jossanna would need to make the SFs or so in Paris, and I doubt they'll even get in. In WS, Laura has to make the RG final. Aljaz and Naomi both seem to be ineligible.

Dan and Kyle are the best hopes for a surprise last-minute run.

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Challenger level

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The presence of any Russian players at the Olympics seems to be in some doubt...

www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/may/13/pressure-russia-rio-2016-olympics-uk-anti-doping-obstructed

www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/may/10/whistleblower-vitaly-stepanov-wada-russian-doping-athletics

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Tennis legend

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OK. It's official. Kyle is NOT targeting Olympic qualification. That is not to say that he wouldn't go if he made the cut, but his schedule is not being planned with Rio in mind. To be fair, it is going to be very difficult anyway, after today's unfortunate injury/withdrawal from Nice. He would probably need to make the 2nd week at RG.

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Challenger level

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Results in Strasbourg and Nurnberg couldn't have been much worse for Heather, with eg. unlikely rival Bertens winning Nurnberg as a qualifier; but she's still 52 of 56, and with only 3 women within a single win of her tally. If she lost in R1, she could be in trouble if there's loads of lower-ranked players in R3 and beyond...

www.tennisforum.com/12-general-messages/891506-race-2016-rio-olympics-after-nurnberg-strasbourg.html

(According to several interviews, this has really been bothering her, and affecting her thinking and concentration during matches; so I'd hope that there's a good chance that, if she wins a round or two at RG, realises she's good for Rio, she'll get a boost of confidence that could help carry her deep into the second week at RG.)

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Futures level

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Is it possible for us to have two mixed doubles teams?? Jamie/jo and andy/heather??

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Challenger level

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I don't think so. There are only 16 mixed doubles teams.



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Tennis legend

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16 too many

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Grand Slam Champion

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I agree doubles of any mix is a joke for The Olympics.

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Tennis legend

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All the tennis in the Olympics is daft.

(As is rugby, football and a thousand and one other mainstream sports).

Zero interest.



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Grand Slam Champion

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I wonder had Andy won his slams before the Olympics if there would be as much interest in them. The importance has probably been false for Heather etc because of this. I obviously have no interest in doubles of any kind but like CD even singles in the Olympics interests me very little. I don't see the point in it for Tennis, Football etc

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Challenger level

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Seems to me that the Olympics is increasingly important to the top players; that, for examples, Nole and Fed feel their claim to GOATdom is lacking that tick.

It's also culturally very important in the Eastern European countries who have dominated the women's game, ignoring Serena.

I wouldn't be surprised if we see a significant number of retirements at the end of this season - Venus?, possibly even Federer? - from players who don't see their 'next big chance' as the Australian Open 2017, but the Olympics, 2020.

Heather for one is on record as defining her year around it; and I suspect that both Nole and Fed resent and envy Andy's title as singles gold medallist more than any other that he could hold. If he met either in Rio, they would be more desperate to win even than Andy was in his Wimbledon finals against them. It matters to the players.

And there's also a few million quid for British tennis, or the LTA at least, dependent on results in Rio.

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Futures level

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If Andy is playing doubles with Jamie it's unlikely he'll play mixed again. I would like to see Jamie and Jo give it a go. Also seemed like Jo and Heather were planning to play together but they've had plenty of tournaments to practice and haven't, so I wonder if that's still happening.

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Challenger level

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Rankings for 6/6/16 have finally arrived.

Team will be Jo, Hev; Andy, Jamie.

And combinations of the above.

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Tennis legend

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Anyone for some mixed, hey ho, what's your name again ?

All the best otherwise.

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