Tennis at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Qualification

Qualification for tennis at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China was determined not by any form of qualifying tournament, but by the rankings maintained by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) and the Women's Tennis Association (WTA).

Qualification
Tennis at the 2008 Summer Olympics
Events
Singles men women
Doubles men women
Qualification
Summer Olympics · 2012 →

Qualifying criteria

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The main qualifying criteria were the ATP and WTA ranking lists as of June 9, 2008. The players entering were formally submitted by the International Tennis Federation (ITF).[1] The ATP and WTA rankings were based on performances from the previous 52 weeks,[2][3] and there were several tournaments, including the 2008 Wimbledon Championships, in the two-month period between the time of the rankings being frozen for entry, and the beginning of the tennis events at the Olympics. This led one player, Rainer Schüttler, who rose the ATP rankings considerably in that time period, to successfully seek arbitration on the matter and gain entry. Another player, Tamarine Tanasugarn who was outside the ranking places that could qualify on July 9, but re-entered them, like Schuettler, gained entry; although she did so through the Tripartite Commission Invitation places after Stephanie Vogt withdrew.[4]

Each National Olympic Committee (NOC) could enter 6 men and 6 women athletes, with a maximum of 4 entries in the individual events, and 2 pairs in the doubles events.[1] This resulted in several high-ranked players being unable to enter, despite players of lower-rank being able to. For example, Vera Zvonareva, world number 13, would not have been entered had all the Russian players ahead of her done so, and world number 21, Nadia Petrova, was unable to participate (the top four Russian women players were all in the world's top eight). In the men's, a notably high-ranked player who could not gain entry was world number 20 Fernando Verdasco of Spain. However, any player in the world's top 56 was eligible, and NOC's had the option to enter players of a lower rank.[1] Athletes were able to compete in both single and doubles events.

Singles:

  • 56 players directly qualified for the singles event based on the recognised World Ranking of 9 June 2008. Any player qualified for the singles event was automatically eligible for entry in the doubles event.
  • 2 Invitation places in each singles event were allocated by the Tripartite Commission.
  • 6 final qualification places in the singles event were allocated by the ITF based on the recognised World Ranking and the continental/NOC representation.[1]

Doubles:

  • 10 players directly qualified for the doubles event based on the recognised World Ranking of 9 June 2008.
  • Final qualification places were allocated by the ITF to doubles players based on the recognised World Ranking and the continental/NOC representation, until a total of 86 places have been allocated.[1]

The ITF places were allocated by the ITF, based on recognized world ranking and continental/NOC participation.[1]

Summary

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A total of 48 nations were represented by at least one player in either the men's singles, women's singles, men's doubles, or women's doubles.

Nation Men Women Total
Singles Doubles Singles Doubles
  Argentina 4 4 1 2(1) 6
  Australia 2 4(2) 3 4(1) 8
  Austria 1 2(1) 1 3
  Bahamas 1 2(1) 2
  Belarus 1 2 4(2) 5
  Belgium 2 2 2
  Brazil 2 2(2) 4
  Bulgaria 1 1
  Canada 2 2(1) 3
  Chile 2 2 2
  China 3 2 4 4(1) 8
  Chinese Taipei 1 1 2(1) 3
  Croatia 1 1
  Czech Republic 4 4(2) 4 4(1) 11
  Denmark 1 1
  Ecuador 1 1
  El Salvador 1 1
  Estonia 2 2 2
  Finland 1 1
  France 4 4(1) 3 4(1) 9
  Germany 2 2 2
  Great Britain 1 2(1) 2
  Greece 1 2(1) 2
  Hungary 1 2(1) 2
  India 2(2) 1 2(1) 4
  Israel 2(2) 2 2 4
  Italy 3 2 4 4(1) 8
  Japan 1 2 2 3
  Latvia 1 1
  New Zealand 1 1
  Poland 2(2) 2 4(2) 6
  Romania 1 1 2
  Russia 4 4 4 4(1) 9
  Serbia 2 2(1) 1 4
  Slovakia 1 2 2(1) 4
  South Africa 1 2(1) 2
  South Korea 1 1
  Spain 4 4 4 4(1) 9
  Sweden 3 4(1) 1 5
  Switzerland 2 2 2 2(1) 5
  Thailand 1 1
  Togo 1 1
  Tunisia 1 1
  Ukraine 4 4 4
  United States 3 4(2) 3 4(2) 10
  Uzbekistan 1 1
  Venezuela 1 1
  Zimbabwe 1 1
Total: 48 NOCs 64 64(22) 64 64(20) 170
  • Number in brackets = players participating only in doubles

Qualifiers

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Men's singles

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No. Rank Player NOC
World Ranking
1 1 Roger Federer   Switzerland
2 2 Rafael Nadal   Spain
3 3 Novak Djokovic   Serbia
4 4 Nikolay Davydenko   Russia
5 5 David Ferrer   Spain
6 Andy Roddick[5]   United States
6 7 James Blake   United States
7 8 David Nalbandian   Argentina
8 9 Stanislas Wawrinka   Switzerland
10 Richard Gasquet[6]   France
9 11 Andy Murray   Great Britain
10 12 Tomáš Berdych   Czech Republic
11 13 Nicolás Almagro   Spain
14 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga[7][8]   France
12 15 Fernando González   Chile
13 16 Radek Štěpánek   Czech Republic
14 17 Paul-Henri Mathieu   France
15 18 Mikhail Youzhny   Russia
16 19 Tommy Robredo   Spain
20 Fernando Verdasco   Spain
17 21 Juan Mónaco   Argentina
22 Ivo Karlović   Croatia
23 Marcos Baghdatis[9][10]   Cyprus
24 Juan Carlos Ferrero   Spain
18 25 Jarkko Nieminen   Finland
26 Carlos Moyá   Spain
27 Ivan Ljubičić   Croatia
19 28 Gilles Simon   France
20 29 Dmitry Tursunov   Russia
21 30 Lleyton Hewitt   Australia
22 31 Andreas Seppi   Italy
23 32 Gaël Monfils   France
33 Feliciano López   Spain
24 34 Igor Andreev   Russia
25 35 Michaël Llodra[7][8]   France
36 Mardy Fish[11]   United States
37 Tommy Haas[12]   Germany
26 38 Nicolas Kiefer   Germany
27 39 Janko Tipsarević   Serbia
40 Philipp Kohlschreiber   Germany
28 41 Sam Querrey   United States
29 42 Robin Söderling   Sweden
43 Julien Benneteau   France
44 Mario Ančić[10]   Croatia
45 Juan Ignacio Chela[4]   Argentina
46 Nicolas Mahut   France
30 47 Simone Bolelli   Italy
31 48 Guillermo Cañas   Argentina
32 49 Agustín Calleri[4]   Argentina
50 José Acasuso   Argentina
33 51 Ernests Gulbis   Latvia
52 Fabrice Santoro   France
34 53 Steve Darcis   Belgium
54 Marcel Granollers   Spain
35 55 Lee Hyung-Taik   South Korea
36 56 Marin Čilić   Croatia
57 Marc Gicquel   France
37 58 Potito Starace   Italy
38 59 Robby Ginepri   United States
60 Sébastien Grosjean   France
61 Eduardo Schwank   Argentina
62 Robin Haase[8]   Netherlands
39 63 Nicolás Lapentti   Ecuador
64 Juan Martín del Potro   Argentina
65 Dudi Sela[10][13][14]   Israel
66 Denis Gremelmayr[10]   Germany
40 67 Olivier Rochus   Belgium
41 68 Thomaz Bellucci   Brazil
42 69 Thomas Johansson   Sweden
70 Albert Montañés   Spain
43 70PR(289) Dominik Hrbatý   Slovakia
44 71 Ivo Minář   Czech Republic
45 72 Victor Hănescu   Romania
46 73 Lu Yen-Hsun   Chinese Taipei
74 Stefan Koubek[8]   Austria
47 75 Marcos Daniel   Brazil
76 Marat Safin   Russia
77 Florent Serra   France
78 Igor Kunitsyn   Russia
48 79 Chris Guccione[8]   Australia
80 Santiago Ventura   Spain
49 81 Jürgen Melzer[8]   Austria
50 82 Jiří Vaněk[10]   Czech Republic
83 Michael Berrer   Germany
84 John Isner   United States
85 Evgeny Korolev   Russia
86 Arnaud Clément   France
87 Martín Vassallo Argüello   Argentina
88 Donald Young   United States
51 89 Rainer Schüttler[10]   Germany
52 90 Frank Dancevic[10]   Canada
53 248 Frédéric Niemeyer[10][15]   Canada
54 570 Zeng Shao-Xuan[15]   China
55 605 Yu Xinyuan[15]   China
56 936 Devin Mullings[15]   Bahamas
ITF places
57 98 Kevin Anderson   South Africa
58 103 Kei Nishikori   Japan
59 128 Jonas Björkman   Sweden
60 131 Nicolás Massú   Chile
61 300 Max Mirnyi   Belarus
62 489 Sun Peng   China
Tripartite Commission Invitation
63 438 Komlavi Loglo   Togo
64 447 Rafael Arevalo   El Salvador

PR Protected/Special Ranking

Rankings as at 9 June 2008

Schüttler entry controversy

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On August 4, 2008, German player Rainer Schüttler was granted an exceptional entry into the tournament, despite not having qualified under the original criteria, after having taken his campaign to play at the games to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). Schuettler, who was an alternate for Denis Gremelmayr, was ranked outside the qualifying places on June 9, when the players entered for the Games, based upon the ATP rankings of that date, were announced by the ITF. Schüttler then went on to the 2008 Wimbledon Championships, where he reached the semi-finals, elevating his ranking from No. 94 to No. 31 in the world.[16] Germany had received one place in the men's singles, based upon the rankings of June 9, although several players withdrew before the Games. Schüttler was subsequently selected by the German Olympic Committee (Deutscher Olympischer Sportbund, DOS), in spite of the regulations set out by the International Tennis Federation (ITF), under which he was designated as an alternate. On August 3, Schüttler took his case to CAS, who the next day ruled in his favour, saying that it was in compliance with the ITF's rules, and asserting that there was an understanding that the decision over which player could be entered would be delegated to the relevant National Olympic Committee. The ITF delivered a hostile response to the decision by CAS, claiming the DOS was ignorant, and admonishing Schüttler's actions — "While recognising the German NOC may not understand how professional tennis works, there is no excuse for Mr Schuettler, who is prepared to take a place earned by his compatriot Denis Gremelmayr and of next alternate Michael Berrer."[17]

Women's singles

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No. Rank Player NOC
World Ranking
1 Ana Ivanovic[18]   Serbia
2 Maria Sharapova[10][19]   Russia
1 3 Jelena Janković   Serbia
2 4 Svetlana Kuznetsova   Russia
3 5 Elena Dementieva   Russia
4 6 Serena Williams   United States
5 7 Venus Williams   United States
8 Anna Chakvetadze[20]   Russia
6 9 Dinara Safina[20]   Russia
10 Marion Bartoli[21]   France
7 11 Daniela Hantuchová   Slovakia
8 12 Patty Schnyder   Switzerland
9 13 Vera Zvonareva[10]   Russia
10 14 Agnieszka Radwańska   Poland
11 15 Ágnes Szávay   Hungary
12 16 Victoria Azarenka   Belarus
13 17 Alizé Cornet   France
14 18 Francesca Schiavone   Italy
15 19 Nicole Vaidišová   Czech Republic
20 Tatiana Golovin   France
21 Nadia Petrova   Russia
16 22 Flavia Pennetta   Italy
23 Maria Kirilenko   Russia
24 Katarina Srebotnik[22]   Slovenia
17 25 Shahar Pe'er   Israel
26 Lindsay Davenport[23]   United States
18 27 Virginie Razzano   France
27PR(NR) Mary Pierce[8]   France
19 28 Sybille Bammer   Austria
20 29 Alona Bondarenko   Ukraine
30 Amélie Mauresmo[8]   France
21 31 Dominika Cibulková   Slovakia
22 32 Caroline Wozniacki   Denmark
23 33 Sania Mirza   India
24 34 Kaia Kanepi   Estonia
25 35 Anabel Medina Garrigues   Spain
26 35PR(153) Mara Santangelo[8]   Italy
27 36 Olga Govortsova   Belarus
28 36PR(162) Samantha Stosur   Australia
29 37 Eleni Daniilidou   Greece
30 38 Ai Sugiyama   Japan
39 Karin Knapp[8]   Italy
31 40 Tsvetana Pironkova   Bulgaria
32 41 Casey Dellacqua   Australia
33 42 Gisela Dulko   Argentina
34 43 Yan Zi   China
44 Elena Vesnina   Russia
35 45 Li Na   China
46 Alisa Kleybanova   Russia
36 47 Lucie Šafářová   Czech Republic
37 48 Iveta Benešová   Czech Republic
38 49 Carla Suárez Navarro   Spain
39 50PR(158) Milagros Sequera   Venezuela
40 50 Peng Shuai   China
41 51 Klára Zakopalová   Czech Republic
52 Petra Cetkovská   Czech Republic
53 Michaëlla Krajicek[8]   Netherlands
42 54 Akgul Amanmuradova   Uzbekistan
55 Tamira Paszek[10]   Austria
43 56 Pauline Parmentier[8]   France
44 57 Sofia Arvidsson   Sweden
58 Vera Dushevina   Russia
59 Aravane Rezaï   France
60 Petra Kvitová   Czech Republic
45 60PR(133) Zheng Jie   China
46 61 Sara Errani   Italy
62 Ekaterina Makarova   Russia
47 63 Tatiana Perebiynis   Ukraine
48 64 Marina Erakovic   New Zealand
49 65 Marta Domachowska   Poland
50 66 Sorana Cîrstea   Romania
51 67 Timea Bacsinszky   Switzerland
52 69 Kateryna Bondarenko[8]   Ukraine
70 Anastasia Rodionova   Russia
72 Edina Gallovits   Romania
73 Akiko Morigami   Japan
74 Ashley Harkleroad   United States
53 75 Jill Craybas[10]   United States
54 101 Maret Ani[15]   Estonia
55 120 Tzipora Obziler[15]   Israel
56 140 María José Martínez Sánchez[15]   Spain
ITF places
57 68 Mariya Koryttseva   Ukraine
58 71 Chan Yung-Jan   Chinese Taipei
59 89 Tamarine Tanasugarn[4]   Thailand
60 102 Nuria Llagostera Vives   Spain
61 105 Ayumi Morita   Japan
62 115 Alicia Molik   Australia
63 159 Selima Sfar   Tunisia
Tripartite Commission Invitation
227 Stephanie Vogt[4][24]   Liechtenstein
64 NR Cara Black   Zimbabwe

PR Protected/Special Rankings

Rankings as at 9 June 2008

Men's doubles

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No. Rank Player A Rank Player B NOC
World Ranking
1 1 Bob Bryan 1 Mike Bryan   United States
2 3 Daniel Nestor Frédéric Niemeyer^   Canada
3 4 Nenad Zimonjić Novak Djokovic^   Serbia
4 5 Mark Knowles Devin Mullings^   Bahamas
5 6 Pavel Vízner Martin Damm   Czech Republic
6 7 Jonathan Erlich 7 Andy Ram   Israel
7 9 Simon Aspelin Thomas Johansson^   Sweden
8 10 Julian Knowle Jürgen Melzer^   Austria
ITF places
9 Guillermo Cañas^ David Nalbandian^   Argentina
10 Agustín Calleri^ Juan Mónaco^   Argentina
11 Paul Hanley Jordan Kerr   Australia
12 Chris Guccione^ Lleyton Hewitt^   Australia
13 Steve Darcis^ Olivier Rochus^   Belgium
14 Marcelo Melo André Sá   Brazil
15 Fernando González^ Nicolás Massú^   Chile
16 Zeng Shao-Xuan^ Yu Xinyuan^   China
Marin Čilić^[18] Ivan Ljubičić   Croatia
17 Tomáš Berdych^ Radek Štěpánek^   Czech Republic
18 Arnaud Clément Michaël Llodra^   France
19 Gilles Simon^[8] Gaël Monfils^   France
20 Nicolas Kiefer^ Rainer Schüttler^   Germany
21 Andy Murray^ Jamie Murray   Great Britain
22 Mahesh Bhupathi Leander Paes   India
23 Simone Bolelli^ Andreas Seppi^   Italy
24 Mariusz Fyrstenberg Marcin Matkowski   Poland
25 Igor Andreev^ Nikolay Davydenko^   Russia
26 Jeff Coetzee Kevin Anderson^[10]   South Africa
27 Nicolás Almagro^ David Ferrer^   Spain
28 Rafael Nadal^ Tommy Robredo^   Spain
29 Jonas Björkman^ Robin Söderling^   Sweden
30 Roger Federer^ Stanislas Wawrinka^   Switzerland
31 James Blake^ Sam Querrey^   United States
32 Dmitry Tursunov^[18] Mikhail Youzhny^   Russia

^ Players have also qualified to the singles tournament

Women's doubles

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No. Rank Player A Rank Player B NOC
World Ranking
1 Cara Black^[25]   Zimbabwe
1 1 Liezel Huber Lindsay Davenport   United States
2 3 Ai Sugiyama^ Ayumi Morita^   Japan
4 Katarina Srebotnik[22]   Slovenia
5 Květa Peschke   Czech Republic
3 6 Rennae Stubbs Samantha Stosur^   Australia
4 7 Chuang Chia-Jung 8 Chan Yung-Jan^   Chinese Taipei
5 9 Victoria Azarenka^ Tatiana Poutchek   Belarus
6 10 Dinara Safina^ Svetlana Kuznetsova^   Russia
ITF places
7 Gisela Dulko^ Betina Jozami   Argentina
8 Casey Dellacqua^ Alicia Molik^   Australia
9 Olga Govortsova^ Darya Kustova   Belarus
10 Yan Zi^ Zheng Jie^   China
11 Sun Tiantian Peng Shuai^   China
12 Nicole Vaidišová^ Iveta Benešová^   Czech Republic
13 Petra Kvitová Lucie Šafářová^   Czech Republic
14 Maret Ani^ Kaia Kanepi^   Estonia
15 Pauline Parmentier^[8] Tatiana Golovin   France
16 Virginie Razzano^ Alizé Cornet^   France
17 Eleni Daniilidou^ Anna Gerasimou   Greece
18 Ágnes Szávay^ Gréta Arn   Hungary
19 Sania Mirza^ Sunitha Rao   India
20 Shahar Pe'er^ Tzipora Obziler^   Israel
21 Mara Santangelo^ Roberta Vinci   Italy
22 Flavia Pennetta^ Francesca Schiavone^   Italy
23 Agnieszka Radwańska^ Marta Domachowska^   Poland
24 Klaudia Jans Alicja Rosolska   Poland
25 Elena Vesnina Vera Zvonareva^   Russia
26 Daniela Hantuchová^ Janette Husárová   Slovakia
27 Anabel Medina Garrigues^ Virginia Ruano Pascual   Spain
28 Nuria Llagostera Vives^ María José Martínez Sánchez^   Spain
29 Patty Schnyder^ Emmanuelle Gagliardi   Switzerland
30 Alona Bondarenko^ Kateryna Bondarenko^   Ukraine
31 Mariya Koryttseva^ Tatiana Perebiynis^   Ukraine
32 Serena Williams^ Venus Williams^   United States

^ Players have also qualified to the singles tournament

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f "IOC Qualification System Summary - Men and Women" (PDF). ITF. 2008-03-13. Retrieved 2008-08-05.
  2. ^ "VIII.ATP RANKINGS" (PDF). ITF. Retrieved 2008-08-05.
  3. ^ "RANKINGS" (PDF). WTA. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2008-06-25. Retrieved 2008-08-05.
  4. ^ a b c d e Changes to Beijing entry list Jul 28
  5. ^ Roddick to defend Washington title and skip Olympics
  6. ^ Gasquet pulls out
  7. ^ a b "Tsonga pulls out of French Olympic squad". Archived from the original on 2012-04-01. Retrieved 2019-05-01.
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Changes to Beijing entry list Jul 21
  9. ^ Baghdatis out of games with wrist injury[dead link]
  10. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Changes to entry list Aug 6
  11. ^ Mardy Fish joins Roddick in skipping Beijing Games
  12. ^ Haas to skip Olympic Games (in German)
  13. ^ Sela loses in first round, then slams OCI[permanent dead link]
  14. ^ Sela, whose participation in the Olympics was not approved by the Olympic Committee of Israel, was invited by the ITF to join the petition to CAS of the Belgian players Darcis and Rochus, but he declined the offer and decided to play in the Countrywide Classic in Los Angeles and the following tournaments in Washington (Countrywide Classic draw).
  15. ^ a b c d e f g A player who withdraws after August 2 is replaced by the highest ranked doubles-only player
  16. ^ "Rainer Schuettler ranking history". ATP. Retrieved 2008-08-04. [dead link]
  17. ^ "Schuettler wins Olympic decision". ITF. 2008-08-04. Retrieved 2008-08-04.
  18. ^ a b c Ivanovic pulled out with a right thumb injury
  19. ^ Injured Sharapova out of Olympics
  20. ^ a b Safina to replace Chakvetadze Archived 2011-09-29 at the Wayback Machine
  21. ^ France pick Pierce for Beijing tennis
  22. ^ a b Srebotnik decided not to take part of Olympics[permanent dead link]
  23. ^ Davenport withdrew on Friday from the Olympics because of a lingering right knee injury.
  24. ^ Steffi Vogt will not participate in Beijing Archived 2010-02-03 at the Wayback Machine (in German)
  25. ^ Zimbabwe doesn't have another player in the WTA ranking beside Cara Black