By Staff and Wire Reports
World No. 1 players Maria Sharapova and Novak Djokovic headline the list of entries for the 2012 Olympic tennis competition, announced Tuesday by the International Tennis Federation.
The 2012 Olympic Tennis Event will be held at The All England Club, Wimbledon from 28 July until 5 August.
Three of the four gold medalists from the Beijing Games in 2008 will return to defend their titles: Rafael Nadal of Spain, Roger Federer and Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland, and two-time champions Venus and Serena Williams of the United States. Women’s singles champion Elena Dementieva of Russia has since retired.
This is the strongest ever Olympic singles entry, led by the two world No.1s, Beijing bronze medalist Djokovic of Serbia and Russia’s Sharapova. Nineteen of the current world’s Top 20 will contest both the men’s and women’s events, with the exceptions being Mardy Fish of the United States and Marion Bartoli of France.
Sixty-four (64) players will contest both the men’s and women’s singles. In the men’s singles, there are 56 direct acceptances and eight ITF Places; while in the women’s singles, there are 56 direct acceptances, six ITF Places and two Tripartite Commission Invitation Places.
All players must also have received an official nomination from their National Olympic Committee and have met the qualification criteria set by the ITF and approved by the International Olympic Committee.
Direct acceptances were based on the singles world rankings of 11 June 2012, with a limit of four singles players per gender per country. Nations were also able to nominate up to two doubles teams per event, with a maximum of six players per gender per country in total.
Thirty-two (32) teams will contest both the men’s and women’s doubles, with 24 direct acceptances and eight ITF Places in both events. Direct acceptances were based on the combined world rankings of each team on 11 June, with each player using the better of their singles and doubles world ranking. Any player ranked in the doubles Top 10 on 11 June was eligible for direct acceptance with a partner of any ranking.
Mixed doubles will be included in the 2012 Olympic Tennis Event for the first time since 1924. Entries for the 16-team event will be determined on site from those players already participating in singles or doubles. Teams have to be nominated by their National Olympic Committee by 31 July. There will be 12 direct acceptances based on the combined world rankings of each team on 11 June, and four ITF Places.
Timea Bacsinszky (SUI) is included in the direct acceptance list having qualified under the ITF’s entry criteria, approved by the International Olympic Committee. However, her entry has not yet been confirmed by the Swiss Olympic Committee.
The ITF believes that all qualified players should be allowed to compete in the Olympic Games, and will continue to do everything in its power to convince the Swiss Olympic Committee to respect the ITF’s qualification criteria and enter Bacsinszky into the 2012 Olympic Tennis Event.
The ITF Olympic Committee determined that Tamira Paszek of Austria is ineligible to contest the Olympic Tennis Event having not met the minimum participation requirements in Fed Cup.
ITF President Francesco Ricci Bitti said: “We are delighted to see the strongest ever field in the history of the Olympic Tennis Event. Since tennis’s return to the Olympics in 1988, the event has continued to grow at each Games, with the current generation of players all embracing this unique opportunity to represent their country in individual competition. The All England Club will provide an iconic backdrop for the event and we expect that the competition in each discipline will be fierce.”
Tennis was a part of the first modern Olympic Games in 1896. The first woman to win an Olympic medal in any sport was tennis player Charlotte Cooper of Britain at the 1900 Olympic Games in Paris. After the 1924 Paris Games, tennis withdrew from the Olympics but returned as a demonstration event at 1984 Los Angeles and as a full medal sport at 1988 Seoul.
The All England Club previously staged the Olympic Tennis Event in 1908 at its old site in Worple Road. This is the first event to be held on grass since tennis’s return as a full-medal sport.
Forty-five (45) countries will compete in this year’s event.
More information on the history of Olympic tennis, including anecdotes, records and day-by-day accounts of previous Olympic Games, can be found in a special $2.99 ebook “Olympic Tennis: An Historical Glimpse” available here: http://www.amazon.com/Olympic-Tennis-Historical-Snapshot-ebook/dp/B008EOXW40/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1340724901&sr=8-1&keywords=Olympic+Tennis+Randy+Walker
The full entries are as follows
Men’s singles entry list
– Argentina: Juan Martin del Potro, Juan Monaco, Carlos Berlocq, David Nalbandian
– Australia: Bernard Tomic, Lleyton Hewitt (*)
– Austria: Jurgen Melzer
– Belgium: Olivier Rochus, David Goffin, Steve Darcis
– Brazil: Thomaz Bellucci (*)
– Bulgaria: Grigor Dimitrov
– Canada: Milos Raonic, Vasek Pospisil (*)
– Chinese Taipei: Lu Yen-Hsun
– Colombia: Santiago Giraldo, Alejandro Falla
– Croatia: Marin Cilic, Ivo Karlovic, Ivan Dodig
– Cyprus: Marcos Baghdatis
– Czech Republic: Tomas Berdych, Radek Stepanek
– Finland: Jarkko Nieminen
– France: Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Gilles Simon, Gael Monfils, Richard Gasquet
– Germany: Philipp Kohlschreiber
– Great Britain: Andy Murray
– India: Somdev Devvarman (*)
– Italy: Andreas Seppi, Fabio Fognini
– Japan: Kei Nishikori, Go Soeda, Tatsuma Ito
– Kazakhstan: Mikhail Kukushkin
– Luxembourg: Gilles Muller
– Netherlands: Robin Haase
– Poland: Lukasz Kubot
– Romania: Adrian Ungur (*)
– Russia: Mikhail Youzhny, Alex Bogomolov Jr, Nikolay Davydenko, Dmitry Tursunov
– Serbia: Novak Djokovic, Janko Tipsarevic, Victor Troicki
– Slovak Republic: Lukas Lacko, Martin Klizan
– Slovenia: Blaz Kavcic (*)
– Spain: Rafael Nadal, David Ferrer, Nicolas Almagro, Fernando Verdasco
– Switzerland: Roger Federer, Stanislas Wawrinka
– Tunisia: Malek Jaziri (*)
– Ukraine: Sergiy Stakhovsky (*)
– USA: John Isner, Andy Roddick, Donald Young, Ryan Harrison
– Uzbekistan: Denis Istomin
(*) ITF Place
Women’s singles entry list
– Australia: Samantha Stosur
– Belarus: Victoria Azarenka
– Belgium: Yanina Wickmayer, Kim Clijsters
– Bulgaria: Tsvetana Pironkova
– Canada: Aleksandra Wozniak
– China, P.R.: Li Na, Peng Shuai, Zheng Jie
– Chinese Taipei: Hsieh Su-Wei
– Croatia: Petra Martic
– Czech Republic: Petra Kvitova, Lucie Safarova, Petra Cetkovska, Klara Zakopalova
– Denmark: Caroline Wozniacki
– Estonia: Kaia Kanepi
– France: Alize Cornet (*)
– Georgia: Anna Tatishvili (*)
– Germany: Angelique Kerber, Sabine Lisicki, Andrea Petkovic, Julia Goerges
– Great Britain: Anne Keothavong (*), Elena Baltacha (*)
– Hungary: Agnes Szavay
– Israel: Shahar Peer
– Italy: Sara Errani, Flavia Pennetta, Roberta Vinci, Francesca Schiavone
– Kazakhstan: Galina Voskoboeva, Yaroslava Shvedova
– Liechtenstein: Stephanie Vogt (#)
– New Zealand: Marina Erakovic
– Paraguay: Veronica Cepede Royg (#)
– Poland: Agnieszka Radwanska, Urszula Radwanska
– Romania: Monica Niculescu, Simona Halep, Sorana Cirstea, Irina-Camelia Begu
– Russia: Maria Sharapova, Vera Zvonareva, Maria Kirilenko, Nadia Petrova
– Serbia: Ana Ivanovic, Jelena Jankovic
– Slovak Republic: Dominika Cibulkova, Daniela Hantuchova
– Slovenia: Polona Hercog
– Spain: Anabel Medina Garrigues, Carla Suarez Navarro, Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez, Silvia Soler-Espinosa
– Sweden: Sofia Arvidsson
– Switzerland: Timea Bacsinszky
– Tunisia: Ons Jabeur (*)
– Ukraine: Alona Bondarenko, Kateryna Bondarenko (*)
– USA: Serena Williams, Christina McHale, Venus Williams, Varvara Lepchenko
(*) ITF Place
(#) Tripartite Commission Invitation Place
Men’s doubles entry list
– Argentina: David Nalbandian/Eduardo Schwank (*)
– Austria: Jurgen Melzer/Alexander Peya
– Belarus: Alexander Bury/Max Mirnyi
– Brazil: Marcelo Melo/Bruno Soares, Thomaz Bellucci/Andre Sa (*)
– Canada: Daniel Nestor/Vasek Pospisil
– Colombia: Juan Sebastian Cabal/Santiago Giraldo (*)
– Croatia: Marin Cilic/Ivan Dodig
– Czech Republic: Tomas Berdych/Radek Stepanek
– France: Michael Llodra/Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Julien Benneteau/Richard Gasquet
– Germany: Christopher Kas/Philipp Petzschner
– Great Britain: Andy Murray/Jamie Murray, Colin Fleming/Ross Hutchins
– India: Leander Paes/Vishnu Vardhan, Mahesh Bhupathi/Rohan Bopanna
– Israel: Jonathan Erlich/Andy Ram (*)
– Italy: Daniele Bracciali/Andreas Seppi
– Japan: Kei Nishikori/Go Soeda (*)
– Netherlands: Robin Haase/Jean-Julien Rojer
– Poland: Mariusz Fyrstenberg/Marcin Matkowski
– Romania: Horia Tecau/Adrian Ungur (*)
– Russia: Nikolay Davydenko/Mikhail Youzhny (*)
– Serbia: Janko Tipsarevic/Nenad Zimonjic, Novak Djokovic/Victor Troicki
– Slovak Republic: Martin Klizan/Lukas Lacko (*)
– Spain: Marcel Granollers/Rafael Nadal, David Ferrer/Feliciano Lopez
– Sweden: Johan Brunstrom/Robert Lindstedt
– Switzerland: Roger Federer/Stanislas Wawrinka
– USA: Bob Bryan/Mike Bryan, John Isner/Andy Roddick
(*) ITF Place
Women’s doubles entry list
– Argentina: Gisela Dulko/Paola Suarez
– Australia: Jarmila Gajdosova/Anastasia Rodionova, Casey Dellacqua/Samantha Stosur
– Canada: Stephanie Dubois/Aleksandra Wozniak (*)
– China, P.R.: Peng Shuai/Zheng Jie, Li Na/Zhang Shuai
– Chinese Taipei: Chuang Chia-Jung/Hsieh Su-Wei (*)
– Czech Republic: Andrea Hlavackova/Lucie Hradecka, Petra Cetkovska/Lucie Safarova
– France: Alize Cornet/Kristina Mladenovic (*)
– Georgia: Margalita Chakhnashvili/Anna Tatishvili (*)
– Germany: Angelique Kerber/Sabine Lisicki, Julia Goerges/Andrea Petkovic
– Great Britain: Laura Robson/Heather Watson (*)
– Hungary: Timea Babos/Agnes Szavay (*)
– India: Rushmi Chakravarthi/Sania Mirza (*)
– Italy: Sara Errani/Roberta Vinci, Flavia Pennetta/Francesca Schiavone
– Kazakhstan: Yaroslava Shvedova/Galina Voskoboeva
– Poland: Agnieszka Radwanska/Urszula Radwanska, Klaudia Jans-Ignacik/Alicja Rosolska
– Romania: Irina-Camelia Begu/Monica Niculescu, Sorana Cirstea/Simona Halep
– Russia: Maria Kirilenko/Nadia Petrova, Ekaterina Makarova/Elena Vesnina
– Slovak Republic: Dominika Cibulkova/Daniela Hantuchova
– Slovenia: Andreja Klepac/Katarina Srebotnik
– Spain: Nuria Llagostera Vives/Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez, Anabel Medina Garrigues/Arantxa Parra Santonja
– Ukraine: Alona Bondarenko/Kateryna Bondarenko (*)
– USA: Liezel Huber/Lisa Raymond, Serena Williams/Venus Williams
(*) ITF Place