Little clarity on doubles qualification for the Games

The International Tennis Federation (ITF) will first work on the list of 56 direct entrants in singles for men and women

The ranking cut-off for entry to the Tokyo Olympics was reached on June 14, but there was no hint about a doubles slot for the Asian Games champions Rohan Bopanna and Divij Sharan.

Despite reaching the quarterfinals at Roland-Garros, Bopanna could only improve his ranking from 40 to 38. There was no remarkable slip for Diivj, who moved from 73 to 75.

The International Tennis Federation (ITF) will first work on the list of 56 direct entrants in singles for men and women. It will also award the final eight ITF qualification places to the eligible continental performers.

The ITF is scheduled to inform the respective national federations about their eligible singles players by Wednesday.

Thereafter, the process will continue for the doubles teams. For a draw of 32, there will be 31 direct acceptances, on the basis of combined world rank of singles or doubles, of the two players in each team.

Doubles players ranked in the top-10 will have automatic entry into the Olympics, as long as their partners have a top-300 rank.

Each country can enter a maximum of 6 men and 6 women players. There will be a restriction of a maximum of four singles players, and two doubles teams each, for the men’s and women’s events.

The mixed doubles teams will be accepted on site in Tokyo on July 27 with an 11 a.m. deadline, from the players assembled for the Games. The mixed doubles event will be limited to a draw of 16 teams.

A country can field a maximum of two mixed doubles teams. The rankings for the entry of mixed teams will also be June 14, the cut-off date for tennis entry for the Games.

The National federations will be required to confirm the entry of eligible players and submit doubles nominations for men’s and women’s events on June 22.

The National Olympic Committees have a deadline of July 5 to submit the entry forms to the Tokyo 2020 organising committee.

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