Serbia’s Novak Djokovic, Switzerland’s Roger Federer, Japan’s Naomi Osaka and Australia’s Ashleigh Barty are on the entry lists for the Tokyo Olympics that were announced Thursday by the International Tennis Federation. As the ITF noted, though: “The entry lists are still subject to change.”
Federer, for one, said last weekend he would wait until after Wimbledon ends on July 11 to decide whether he will head to Japan.
Golden Slam beckons
Djokovic has made clear he’d like to pursue a Golden Slam, something only Steffi Graf has done, in 1988: winning all the four Majors and an Olympic singles gold medal in the same year.
Eligibility
Eligibility is based on the rankings of June 14, the day after the French Open ended. Seven of the Top 10 players in both the WTA and ATP rankings currently are on Thursday’s lists.
For the women, that’s No. 1 Barty, No. 2 Osaka, No. 4 Aryna Sabalenka (Belarus), No. 5 Elina Svitolina (Ukraine), No. 7 Bianca Andreescu (Canada), No. 9 Iga Swiatek (Poland) and No. 10 Petra Kvitova (Czech Republic). Stars who are missing are Romania’s Simona Halep and Americans Serena Williams and Sofia Kenin.
For the men, apart from No. 1 Djokovic and No. 8 Federer, the others in the list are No. 2 Daniil Medvedev (Russia), No. 4 Stefanos Tsitsipas (Greece), No. 6 Alexander Zverev (Germany), No. 7 Andrey Rublev (Russia) and No. 9 Matteo Berrettini (Italy). Spain’s Rafael Nadal, Roberto Bautista Agut and Austria’s Dominic Thiem do not figure in the list.
Two-time defending singles champion Andy Murray of Britain has been granted a special exemption because he has the most Olympic and Grand Slam titles of the players whose ranking is not good enough to earn direct entry.
