Olympics Main Draw 1 Federer Roger SUI 1 2 Nadal Rafael ESP 2 3 Djokovic Novak SRB 3 4 Davydenko Nikolay RUS 4 5 Ferrer David ESP 5 6 Blake James USA 7 7 Nalbandian David ARG 8 8 Wawrinka Stanislas SUI 9 9 Murray Andy GBR 11 10 Berdych Tomas CZE 12 11 Almagro Nicolas ESP 13 12 Tsonga Jo-Wilfried FRA 14 OUT 13 Gonzalez Fernando CHI 15 14 Stepanek Radek CZE 16 15 Mathieu Paul-Henri FRA 17 16 Youzhny Mikhail RUS 18 17 Robredo Tommy ESP 19 18 Monaco Juan ARG 21 19 Karlovic Ivo CRO 22 OUT 20 Baghdatis Marcos CYP 23 OUT 21 Nieminen Jarkko FIN 25 22 Ljubicic Ivan CRO 27 OUT 23 Simon Gilles FRA 28 24 Tursunov Dmitry RUS 29 25 Hewitt Lleyton AUS 30 26 Seppi Andreas ITA 31 27 Monfils Gael FRA 32 28 Andreev Igor RUS 34 29 Kiefer Nicolas GER 38 30 Tipsarevic Janko SRB 39 31 Kohlschreiber Philipp GER 40 OUT 32 Querrey Sam USA 41 33 Soderling Robin SWE 42 34 Ancic Mario CRO 44 OUT 35 Chela Juan Ignacio ARG 45 OUT 36 Bolelli Simone ITA 47 37 Canas Guillermo ARG 48 38 Gulbis Ernests LAT 51 39 Darcis* Steve BEL 53 40 Lee Hyung-Taik KOR 55 41 Cilic Marin CRO 56 42 Starace Potito ITA 58 43 Ginepri Robby USA 59 44 Haase* Robin NED 62 OUT 45 Lapentti Nicolas ECU 63 46 Sela* Dudi ISR 65 OUT 47 Gremelmayr* Denis GER 66 OUT 48 Rochus* Olivier BEL 67 49 Bellucci Thomaz BRA 68 50 Johansson Thomas SWE 69 51 Hrbaty Dominik SVK @70 52 Minar Ivo CZE 71 53 Hanescu Victor ROU 72 54 Lu Yen-Hsun TPE 73 55 Koubek Stefan AUT 74 OUT 56 Daniel Marcos BRA 75 57 (ITF Place) Anderson Kevin RSA 58 (ITF Place) Bjorkman Jonas SWE 59 (ITF Place) Nishikori Kei JPN 60 (ITF Place) Massu Nicolas CHI 61 (ITF Place) Mirnyi Max BLR 62 (ITF Place) Sun Peng CHN 63 (Tripartite) Loglo Komlavi TOG 64 (Tripartite) Arevalo Rafael ESA (ALT) Llodra, Michael FRA (replaces Tsonga) (ALT) Calleri, Agustin ARG (replaces Chela) (ALT) Niemeyer, Frank CAN (replaces Ancic) (ALT) Zeng, Shaoxuan CHN (replaces Kohlschreiber) (ALT) Yu, Xinyuan CHN (replaces Karlovic) (ALT) Mullins, Devin BAH (replaces Ljubicic) First Alternates IN Guccione Chris AUS 79 (replaces Koubek) IN Melzer Jurgen AUT 81 (replaces Haase) IN Vanek Jiri CZE 82 (replaces Baghdatis) IN Schuettler, Rainer GER (replaces Sela) IN Dancevic, Frank CAN (replaces Gremelmayr)
* Entry not yet confirmed by National Olympic Committee
In most individual olympic sports, there are WC places for people who don't achieve qualifying standard from developing countries in that sport.
See 50m free style in swimming (eric the eel), 100m first round heats (once including a shot putter from American Samoa...), and our very own Eddie the Eagle (when it comes to ski jumping, we are a developing nation!).
If anyone else withdraws now, they are replaced on an on-site alternate... which I think goes by singles ranking of those in the doubles draw.... which would be Zeng, Yu, Mullings, and then a random draw as everyone else who could play has no ranking.... technically Jamie Murray could be 4th alternate for the Olympic games.
I have updated the first post. I don't quite understand the difference between the two who are marked in as ALT and the others on the first alternate list as IN, but both sites I checked showing the entry list have it exactly the same.
Llodra and Calleri would have made the cut if it wasn't for thr 4 players per country rule, so by replacing someone from their own country who withdrew, they are slightly different alternates to Guccione and co who are replacing someone who withdrew and didn't have someone ranked high enough from thier own country to replace them.
With 33 of the top 42 ( on the original list ) still standing, there is the potential for a couple of quite tricky rounds even before the last 16, as well as the possibility of a much easier draw.
Kohlschrieber is apparantly out as well with an injury, so I think it means Zeng will replace him as an alternate.
There are 3 or 4 dream first round draws (although I'd love to see Loglo vs. Arevalo in round 1), but some nasty draws as well which you want to avoid in the first round (and I'd say Hewitt would be the worst, given how he performs for his country... and for the same reason that if Nalbandian is fit, then he'll win the event, but I'm not sure he is 100%)
Draws are made some point tomorrow, so should be out by lunchtime accounting for the time difference.
Doubles is at the discretion of the ITF, but based on the rankings, so anyone could end up seeded, although I'd expect Bryan's and Erlich/Ram to be the top seeds.
I'd guess at Bryan Brothers, Erlich/Ram, Paes/Bhupathi, Nestor/Niemeyer, Zimonjic/Djokovic, Knowles/Mullings, Vizner/Damm and Clement/Llodra as being the seeds, but that's just a guess
I caught a snippit on the news that anyone displaying a flag of a country not participating in the Olympics would be ejected, they added "such as England or Scotland" - So Andy, watch out, you have been warned!
I did a web search and found this - The back of the Beijing tickets contain fine print stating that Chinese laws and regulations prohibit you from carrying certain articles to the Venue.You should not carry flags of countries or regions not participating in the Games.
also found - in 1996 - a Taiwanese student spectator unfurled the flag of the Republic of China and was ejected by Atlanta police. ...This was possible under American law because the back of the admission ticket contained fine print prohibiting, among other things flags other than those of participating countries, and giving the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games the authority to eject any Spectator who fails to comply with these rules.