Olympics offering points (apparently it was in doubt before now)

imoen · Admin: Moderator+Tennis Legend

Olympics offering points (apparently it was in doubt before now)

DJ · County player

Thanks for this, Bethan, but I can't help with the requirements, sorry.

steven · Tennis legend

I can't find the entry requirements, but looking at the size of the draws, I think we'll have Andy in the singles and Andy & Jamie in the doubles and that's it.

imoen · Admin: Moderator+Tennis Legend

Its the doubles I'm concerned about. The article there seems to suggest eligible doubles players have to have eligible partners and so I want to know what "eligible" means as if it means a doubles ranking within th top 100 (for example) then Andy can't play with Jamie. But I can't see why it would mean that and I'm probably just reading far too much into it in an attempt to find something interesting

imoen · Admin: Moderator+Tennis Legend

Oh and if Steven can't find the entry requirements....

steven · Tennis legend

Never satisfied, are you! LOL

"The two main criteria for making your nation's Olympic tennis team are your ranking on the ATP or WTA tour and a requirement that you have made yourself available to play in the International Team Championships of the International Tennis Federation (ITF) for at least two of the years 2005, 2006, 2007, or 2008, including at least once in 2007 or 2008. Availability to play in one Fed Cup or Davis Cup Tie fulfills the requirement for a given year. You must also be free of any anti-doping sanctions at the time of selection."

See http://tennis.about.com/od/tournaments/a/roadolympictenn.htm

I think the Davis Cup 'availability' requirements are the special eligibility rules they are talking about - it kind of explains why Fed, Rafa and Mandy make sure they play at least once a year.

Either that or they all have to be unmarried ...

steven · Tennis legend

P.S. I'm sure the ranking requirements are the same as for other ATP events, i.e. you can use your singles ranking to get into the doubles. Obviously both players have to come from the same country for the doubles too.

imoen · Admin: Moderator+Tennis Legend

Merci beaucoup Steven

I'm really very lazy becuase I know there are so many wonderful people on this board willing to do the leg work for me. And I'm very grateful.

wolf · Tennis legend

http://en.beijing2008.cn/news/sports/headlines/tennis/n214121496.shtml

Criteria.

DJ · County player

steven wrote:

I can't find the entry requirements, but looking at the size of the draws, I think we'll have Andy in the singles and Andy & Jamie in the doubles and that's it.

I can't see how Jamie can get in unless he's ranked in the top ten by June, or, just possibly, he may squeeze in on the ranking+ geographical criteria, but given that he's European, I wouldn't consider that at all likely. I think it'll just be Andy, but I'd be delighted if someone could find a way of interpreting this differently, and thereby keep my hopes up until June!

Thnaks for digging this out, Wolf - good work!

steven · Tennis legend

I must admit, I've been trying to work that out too. Surely it can't be only the top 10 doubles players and otherwise it has to be singles players, when they need 64 players to take part in the doubles draw. That doesn't make sense on any level.

wolf · Tennis legend

I think singles players can choose their doubles partners (e.g. Andy can choose Jamie). And I definately remember it being posted on the front page of AM.com that Andy would team up with Jamie.

DJ · County player

It's going to be fearsomely complicated to work all this out - start off with the 64 singles players invited, add the automatic top ten doublers, then the extra dozen from the bipartite criteria - comes to 86. Strike out those who are their country's sole representative, then strike out one from each country with an odd number of representatives and finally strike out any who don't want to play in the doubles (tho' that one should come before the 'odd number' one e.g assuming France have 4 singles plus two doubles, but one singles player opts out, leaves total of five, so another has to go in order for pairs to be formed!). On that basis, there could easily not be enough for 32 pairs.
On the other hand, it's hard to imagine any player turning down the chance of a crack at an Olympic medal even if they don't much like doubles - unless Andy's puir wee knee is sore.

DJ · County player

wolf wrote:

I think singles players can choose their doubles partners (e.g. Andy can choose Jamie). And I definately remember it being posted on the front page of AM.com that Andy would team up with Jamie.

It can't be as simple as that, though, Wolf, much as we would like it to be. There are 64 singles players there; if they were each to choose a doubles partner, that could be 128. Then it says that 10 doubles guys get in by right, and another dozen are chosen by a combination of rank, homeland, etc. But it also says that the ABSOLUTE MAXIMUM is 86 male tennis players. I really don't see how Jamie can get in.
The article you mentioned wasn't by any chance referring to the Commonwealth Games? When tennis is in that, the doubles players are chosen by those already in the singles, so Andy could choose Jamie to join him in the Scottish team, What a great opportunity for a couple of golds - and what a pity Glasgow hasn't chosen tennis as one of the sports for 2014! Missed opportunity for home golds.

wolf · Tennis legend

I am definately sure it was not reffering the Commonwealth Games, that would have been quite an assumption. If you can find a way to get the news archives on AM.com (I can't) I am sure you will find it.