The deadline for entries closed weeks ago and the opening ceremonies are just a couple of days away, but players have been battling to get into the Olympics till the very last minute.
The issue lies with eligibility criteria and the nomination process in deciding who will compete in Beijing. Tennis, unlike most sports, does not hold trials to award Olympic berths.
Instead, according to rules established by the International Tennis Federation (ITF), the top 56 players on the respective ATP and WTA Tour rankings receive direct entrance into the competition, with each country limited to entering up to four players in the singles event and two teams in the doubles draw. If a player is injured or elects not to compete, alternates in their order of ranking are used to replace the withdrawing player(s).
Some national Olympic committees, however, choose to set their own, stricter criteria, focusing on results garnered by the players rather than just their world rankings. The disparity has created conflict, with some players eligible for direct entry left out and others entered ahead of higher-ranked compatriots.
Talented Austrian Tamira Paszek struggled severely this spring but was still ranked high enough for direct entry during the June 9 cutoff. But Paszek was overlooked by the Austrian Olympic Committee (OOC) for a spot on their Beijing roster because she failed to meet their requirements. After an unsuccessful intervention by the ITF, Paszek is officially not Beijing bound and is considering legal action against the OOC as well as contemplating a change in nationality.
Paszek, the daughter of a Kenyan-raised Indian-Tanzanian father and Chilean-Austrian mother, is considering representing Brazil in international competition, where she has trained under the tutelage of Larri Passos, the former coach of Gustavo Kuerten. Paszek is said to have already stated her intentions to the president of the Brazilian Tennis Federation.
“Until one week before play [begins], I did not know whether I am flying to Beijing or not. Never has someone spoken with me [about it]. This should be worked out more professionally and communicated more,” said Paszek.
Dudi Sela was also not nominated by his Olympic committee despite being ranked high enough to get in. “This has sapped my motivation to play in the next Davis Cup,” he said. “I finished the last three Davis Cup encounters without one nail in my toes. Both my shoulder and my legs were injured. I played for five hours straight in aching pain. But that's all over now. They couldn't have sent me despite being ranked 14 spots from what they set as the minimum?"
“He's an excellent tennis player who represented Israel outstandingly in the Davis Cup and can, without a doubt, represent Israel with honor in the Olympics. But winning a medal is easier said than done,” said an Israeli official. “He lost in the first rounds in a number of tournaments and the only person whose actions determine whether he is going to Beijing or not is Sela himself, and he didn't even come close to making the cut.”
German Rainer Schuettler had the opposite problem – he was nominated by the German Olympic Committee despite being the fifth-ranked German at the time of the cuttoff. His Wimbledon semifinal appearance a month later sent his soaring up the rankings and allowed him to retroactively meet the German Olympic Committee’s criteria.
But the ITF would not accept his entry, so the 32-year-old hired a law firm and appealed his case to the Court of Arbitration of Sport (CAS) in Beijing to lobby for his third trip to the Olympic Games.
The CAS ruled in Schuettler’s favor earlier this week and awarded him a spot in the singles competition, but the ITF issued a scathing response to the decision.
“The ITF deplores the lack of understanding by the German Olympic Committee about entry to tennis events around the world including the Olympic Games,” said the statement. “However, while recognizing that the German NOC may not understand how professional tennis works, there is no excuse for Mr. Schuettler who is prepared to take a place that was earned by his compatriot Denis Gremelmayr and of next alternate Michael Berrer. The ITF wishes him the best of luck even if he was not eligible for Beijing,” the ITF said.
Gremelmayr, who was ranked higher than Schuettler at the time of the cut-off, said, “You are working every day, trying to play your best tennis, you get the ranking and then at the end they say no, you have to be much better to do that. In my opinion, it's not fair.
“It's not Rainer's fault. He played very well at Wimbledon.”
Belgians Olivier Rochus and Steve Darcis also appealed for their berth in the doubles competition when they met the ITF’s requirements but not those of the Belgian Olympic Committee (BOIC). After being refused spots in Beijing, the two took the BOIC to court, where an ad-hoc tribunal ruled in their favor and awarded them each 7,500 euros in damages.
Perhaps by the time the Games come around again in four years time, the ITF and national committees will have decided on a set of clear and consistent eligibility criteria.