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Even as the excitement builds toward the tennis event at the upcoming London Olympics—and I'm as caught up in it as anyone—I still haven't gotten over the question posed way back in the 1980s: Does tennis really belong in the Olympics? I still must say "no," and nothing about Olympic tennis has persuaded me of its greater glory.
But let's be real, tennis is not going to be withdrawn from the Olympics. Olympic status has helped tennis in two enormous ways: First, it made the game far more appealing in nations—like those of the former Soviet Union—where Olympic status was mandatory for a sport to matter. We've seen the results of that change. Second, it persuades governments to funnel money into tennis, because every nation has Olympic ambitions and programs. This condition remains a global reality most important in less wealthy nations.
Okay, Olympic tennis only grows the sport, and besides—isn't it great to see guys like Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal showcased in what remains the most prestigious of all global athletic extravaganzas? Sure it is. Olympic tennis is like a great big ladle of gravy dumped atop the ATP and WTA calendars. But when you rule out all these practical, almost political concerns, it's pretty clear that Olympic tennis is, if not exactly a sham, then an event with a lot more credibility than it has earned—even if marquee players like Federer, Novak Djokovic, and the two Andys (Murray and Roddick) have come to embrace it.
Case in point: The ATP calendar continues to roll out almost exactly as it would without the Olympics, and some of the top Olympic contenders have been playing competitive tennis right up to the opening bell in London. Guys like ATP No. 10 Juan Monaco and No. 8 Janko Tipsarevic were in finals of tour events just days ago—on clay. I think it's safe to assume they would not have entered tournaments a week before a Grand Slam played on an entirely different surface. Clearly, the very top players penciled in the Olympics because the Games somewhat conveniently take place during the long break they usually take after Wimbledon anyway. It's not like they've passed up other tennis priorities to focus on the Olympics, and there's no real financial sacrifice involved.
Lesser lights like Monaco and Tipsarevic would have to take a financial hit in order to gamble on coming up with a knockout Olympic performance, and this shows they clearly are unwilling to do it. The best example of all is Philipp Kohlschreiber, Germany's only male singles Olympian and a recent quarterfinalist at the very place where the Games will take place, Wimbledon. He's on the court as I write this—in Kitzbuhel, on red clay.
In what other Olympic sport do the athletes compete in significant, or even major—as in "Wimbledon"—events just two or three weeks before the big show? The way Olympic tennis is shoehorned into the calendar, it may be nothing more than a lark for tennis pros. They suffer from an embarrassment of riches. I wonder how athletes in less remunerative, opportunity-rich sports feel about tennis potentially stealing their thunder.
Then there is the Olympic mixed doubles event, which is simply a travesty. The draw consists of 16 teams (selected from on-site players) and if teams split sets, they will play a first-to-10-points super-tiebreaker to decide the match. I've always said that one of the good things about Olympic tennis is that the medals in singles and doubles have the same worth, and are the same color. That clearly is no longer true, no matter how much the medalists in the mixed will cherish or show off their hardware.
The qualification rules and procedures also seem flawed, and are at odds with the very nature of an individual, rankings-based sport. Before Nadal pulled out, it looked as if his solid, Top 20-countryman Feliciano Lopez would be out in the cold because of the four-player limit per nation in singles. Ernests Gulbis of Latvia is a head case, but he's awfully talented, and the same can be said for Thomaz Bellucci of Brazil. Yet Bellucci got in, while Gulbis did not. Meanwhile, Canada got a free pass into the draw for Vasek Pospisil, and with all due respect to Pospisil, maybe someday someone can tell me why.
Tennis continues to be a square professional peg in a round Olympic hole. I can't think of another Olympic event that is as compromised and jiggered up to compensate for its poor fit—or athletes who, with the exception of the gilded elite, are as indifferent to the call of Olympic glory as tennis players. The Olympics as an enterprise and commercial venture benefit greatly from the inclusion of tennis. More traditional Olympic athletes and the sports they play do not.