In a move designed to attract the top players to next year’s Olympic women’s tennis tournament, results will count toward the WTA world rankings system, the International Tennis Federation (ITF) announced on Friday.
There had been fears that a gruelling week-long competition under a hot August sun in Athens would not be to the liking of some of the game’s stars who will be gearing up for the US Open in New York which starts on August 25.
But unlike in the Sydney 2000 Olympics, not playing could see them dropping down the pecking order which is used to determine entries to and seedings in the big tour events. The Association for Tennis Professionals (ATP) Tour already offered ranking points for the Sydney games.
The ITF also announced that the entry system for the Athens Olympics tennis, which will start with 64 players in each of the singles competitions, will be based on the ATP and WTA Tour rankings with each country allowed a maximum of four players.
”The decisions reward the men and women equally and will guarantee that as many players as possible are able to represent their countries in Athens,” said ITF President Francesco Ricci Bitti.
The 2004 Olympic tennis event will be played from Sunday August 15 through Sunday August 22 at the new Olympic Tennis Centre in Athens. It will include men’s and women’s singles (64-strong field) and men’s and women’s doubles (32).
The Olympic champions in Sydney were Yevgeny Kafelnikov of Russia and Venus Williams of the United States in the singles, and in the doubles, Sebastien Lareau and Daniel Nestors of Canada and Venus and Serena Williams. – Sapa-AFP