The Race to Rio

Etienne · Club Coach

The Race to Rio

Kounosuke · Intermediate Club Player

Etienne wrote:
I've been informed elsewhere that Edmund is not going to be eligible due to not having played enough Davis Cup tennis. Is that right? You have to be in the final team 3 times over the last 4 years, and (thanks to his injury prior to Japan) he's only been in twice.

-- Edited by Etienne on Thursday 5th of May 2016 08:11:45 AM

This is true, but if his ranking is high enough to get in then this exemption may apply as 2 years ago Kyle wasn't in DC contention.

Newcomer to Davis/Fed Cup: A player only reaches a ranking level sufficient for Davis/Fed Cup selection by his National Association during the latter part of an Olympic cycle.

-- Edited by Kounosuke on Thursday 5th of May 2016 08:38:33 AM

GBJ · Club Coach

Kounosuke wrote:
Etienne wrote:
I've been informed elsewhere that Edmund is not going to be eligible due to not having played enough Davis Cup tennis. Is that right? You have to be in the final team 3 times over the last 4 years, and (thanks to his injury prior to Japan) he's only been in twice.

-- Edited by Etienne on Thursday 5th of May 2016 08:11:45 AM
This is true, but if his ranking is high enough to get in then this exemption may apply as 2 years ago Kyle wasn't in DC contention.
Newcomer to Davis/Fed Cup: A player only reaches a ranking level sufficient for Davis/Fed Cup selection by his National Association during the latter part of an Olympic cycle.

-- Edited by Kounosuke on Thursday 5th of May 2016 08:38:33 AM

Oh wow, I didn't realise there were rules like that - it would seem harsh if any player ranked high enough was not allowed to play just because they had not quite made it into the final DC team often enough - surely the issue should be whether you made yourself available/were in the squad etc.

GBJ · Club Coach

So it looks to me like Kyle will need around another 200 points from this week, the 250 he's in qualies for end of next week and then the French. I say it's less than 50/50 he makes that.

As said earlier Dan needs around 50 more should he win in the Busan Open this week and is currently down for another 100k next week, a 50k the week after that then the Manchester challenger in the second week of the French I think would count too. That again seems just under 50/50 to me.

Actually - is Kyle likely to request a Manchester wild card if not still in the French? How late can such requests be made?

Bob in Spain · Tennis legend

Agree that it will be tough for Kyle. Those points from the FO last year are looming large and if he gets a tough draw this year, that could be that. I think he realistically has to win the tournament this week and then hope for the best.

As for Evo, I fancy his chances of making it. With the three challengeres lined up in the Far East right now, with not particularly strong fields, I can see Dan doing enough over there to make it into the team for Rio.

paulisi · Tennis legend

Excuse my ignorance, but is there a limit per event per nation? i.e if Evo, Kyle and Andy and Bedene won his appeal could all 4 go and play singles?

Bob in Spain · Tennis legend

paulisi wrote:
Excuse my ignorance, but is there a limit per event per nation? i.e if Evo, Kyle and Andy and Bedene won his appeal could all 4 go and play singles?

The limit is 4 per nation. That is why on the 56 person draw, the cut off will be around the 70 mark as the Spaniards/French etc will have players miss out despite being in the top 56.

-- Edited by Bob in Spain on Thursday 5th of May 2016 03:58:31 PM

RJA · Hall of fame

GBJ wrote:
Actually - is Kyle likely to request a Manchester wild card if not still in the French? How late can such requests be made?

If Kyle is interested in playing in Manchester then he can enter the tournament. If he has a good run at the French he can always withdraw. There is no need to waste a wild card on a player who doesn't need it.

RJA · Hall of fame

Bob in Spain wrote:
paulisi wrote:
Excuse my ignorance, but is there a limit per event per nation? i.e if Evo, Kyle and Andy and Bedene won his appeal could all 4 go and play singles?
The limit is 4 per nation. That is why on the 56 person draw, the cut off will be around the 70 mark as the Spaniards/French etc will have players miss out despite being in the top 56.

-- Edited by Bob in Spain on Thursday 5th of May 2016 03:58:31 PM

There are also a few players (Dominic Thiem and Bernard Tomic being two) who have said that they aren't going to play the Olympics.

wimdledont · Challenger level

The final column on the right (Week 5) gives the ranking scores for the relevent week...

live-tennis.eu/forecast_atp_ranking

Dan is due to drop 20 points, but is ahead of Kyle, who drops 70.

Madadman · Masters Series Champion

Had a quick look through the rankings and also having looked at London cut-off an aim of 70 or better would possible be needed to get in. Including Points coming off this week but not adding those earned this week, this is how many points I think Dan & Kyle would need to qualify.

Kyle 221 points needed, 33 gained this week already though so 188
Dan 194 points needed, 40 points gained this week already though so 154.

Edit: Basically just repeated what everyone else has said, hadn't really read through the thread properly.

-- Edited by Madadman on Friday 6th of May 2016 11:16:28 AM

wimdledont · Challenger level

For the women, again the final column (Week5) shows the relevent week...

live-tennis.eu/forecast-wta-ranking

JoKo would be the 15th best qualified (seedings done later)

Heather is in trouble. Her current ranking is fine; but she has 129 points from last year to defend, which puts her right on the cusp. She should be alright is she wins two MD matches in either Rome or Paris, but she starts from qualies in Rome. So she's also entered Strasbourg, where she would get 60 points for QF, 110 for SF. I think she may also enter the WTA125 in Bol, in case she isn't busy during RG Week2.

Naomi is ineligible.

Laura would need to win Rome, or final in Paris; or semifinal in Paris, and about R3 in Rome could do it. Allez Leicester City!

GBJ · Club Coach

Thanks Wimbledont.

This may have been discussed elsewhere or want a separate thread if people have a lot of opinions on it:
What do people think of the fact there are no points for the Olympics this time?

Was this perhaps partly why Thiem and Tomic do not want to play?

Personally it makes more sense to me than giving points that are less than a Masters Series but I'd much rather see them award points.

Just to share another of my random ideas: If they really wanted to make it into an event with unique prestige like it has in other sports I always thought it might be night if they awarded the same points as for a slam but only took quarter of them off each year in a kind of acknowledgement that this person is still the defending Olympic champion/medallist etc. (i.e. Murray would have earned 2000 points in 2012 and would still have 500 until after this year's tournament ends). I wondered what people here make of this idea.

indiana · Tennis legend

GBJ wrote:
Thanks Wimbledont.

This may have been discussed elsewhere or want a separate thread if people have a lot of opinions on it:
What do people think of the fact there are no points for the Olympics this time?

Was this perhaps partly why Thiem and Tomic do not want to play?

Personally it makes more sense to me than giving points that are less than a Masters Series but I'd much rather see them award points.

Just to share another of my random ideas: If they really wanted to make it into an event with unique prestige like it has in other sports I always thought it might be night if they awarded the same points as for a slam but only took quarter of them off each year in a kind of acknowledgement that this person is still the defending Olympic champion/medallist etc. (i.e. Murray would have earned 2000 points in 2012 and would still have 500 until after this year's tournament ends). I wondered what people here make of this idea.

The Olympics has the issue rankingswise in the restriction on number of entrants, effecting such as the French and indeed at times national Olympic committees just not selecting well ranked players.

If open to all the top ranked then I quite like your suggestions, maybe even make the Olympics an additional counter.

But it isn't likely to be so totally non nation restricted any time soon and in such circumstances I'd best possibly have left as was. It's a pity to see players possibly avoiding the Olympics because of no ranking points.

RJA · Hall of fame

GBJ wrote:
Thanks Wimbledont.

This may have been discussed elsewhere or want a separate thread if people have a lot of opinions on it:
What do people think of the fact there are no points for the Olympics this time?

Was this perhaps partly why Thiem and Tomic do not want to play?

Personally it makes more sense to me than giving points that are less than a Masters Series but I'd much rather see them award points.

Just to share another of my random ideas: If they really wanted to make it into an event with unique prestige like it has in other sports I always thought it might be night if they awarded the same points as for a slam but only took quarter of them off each year in a kind of acknowledgement that this person is still the defending Olympic champion/medallist etc. (i.e. Murray would have earned 2000 points in 2012 and would still have 500 until after this year's tournament ends). I wondered what people here make of this idea.

I have always felt that the Olympics should be restricted to Sports in which an Olympic gold is the ultimate achievement. If however I accept for the sake of argument that tennis should be played at the Olympics I still don't think that ATP points should be awarded. If some tennis players truly value the Olympics than they will surely be willing to compete in it regardless of whether or not points are available.

I don't know what Tomic's reasons are but Thiem stated last year that he was unlikely to play because "tennis isn't an Olympic sport". There is of course an ATP 250 in Mexico that week and presumably they will be offering a few players some decent appearance fees on order that they have some decent names. Other players might also think that a fairly weak ATP 250 is more appealing than the Olympics.