JonH comes home wrote:

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I cant say I know the criteria in depth, but ERA have a nice little page showing positions in terms of the Race to get a position in the Olympics.

As it stands, both Jo (37th) and Heather (45th) appear in the Top 56 ladies who would qualify. I believe there is a maximum of 4 players per country that are counted and this probably explains why Heather can creep in. 

https://www.openerarankings.com/WTAHome?Race=6

 

There was some story doing the rounds that the USA would be allowed 5 players if Cori Gauff doesn't qualify automatically.  Also something about Kenin being born in Moscow.Some of the USA's best players are not going to get there. Another thing that strikes one is that Jo is not playing Fed Cup because it is an Olympic year. But there is a possibility that she might not qualify unless she starts to win some matches. 

the addict wrote:

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Heather is in on points at the moment - not certain which tournaments qualify, but OER shows Heather on 705 points, rather than the 784 from the official rankings. There are just three players with more points who don't qualify due to the maximum of four rule.

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 that is correct, Jo is on 200-300 points more than Heather. According to wiki it is the ranking list on 8th June that will be used, so presumably this Race on OER is from that point in 2019 so we can see how points and places build towards that date?

For the singles competitions, the top 56 players in the world rankings on June 8, 2020 of the WTA and ATP tours are qualified for the Olympics. However, entry has been limited to four players from a country. This means that players who are ranked in the top 56 but represent the NOCs with four higher-ranked players already participating do not qualify, allowing players who are ranked outside of the top 56 but from countries with fewer than four players already qualified to compete. A player could only participate if they made themselves available to be drafted to represent their country in Davis Cup or Fed Cup for two of the following years: 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020, with one of the years being either 2019 or 2020. Six of the remaining eight slots will be allocated by continent: two in the 2019 Pan American Games, one in the 2018 Asian Games, one in the 2019 African Games, and one each for Europe and Oceania for the highest-ranked athlete from an NOC with no other qualifiers. The final two spots are reserved, one for the host nation and one for a previous Olympic gold medalist or Grand Slam champion.^[1]