The Road to Olympic TennisHow Players Qualify and Get Chosen for Their Olympic Tennis TeamsBy Jeff Cooper, About.com GuideThe two main criteria for making your nation's Olympic tennis team are your ranking on the ATP or WTA tour and a requirement that you have made yourself available to play in the International Team Championships of the International Tennis Federation (ITF) for at least two of the years 2005, 2006, 2007, or 2008, including at least once in 2007 or 2008. Availability to play in one Fed Cup or Davis Cup Tie fulfills the requirement for a given year. You must also be free of any anti-doping sanctions at the time of selection.Your ranking as of June 9, 2008 [8 weeks before start of Games] determines your eligibility for Direct Acceptance into the singles and doubles draws. The men's and women's singles draws will each have 64 players; the men's and women's doubles, 32 teams. No mixed doubles event will be played.* The maximum number of competitors allowed will be 172, forcing some overlap between singles and doubles competitors.
Andy Murray will always be welcome back in Davis Cup team, says captain Leon Smith By Ted Tracey DAVIS CUP skipper Leon Smith insists Andy Murray's place in the rejuvenated Great Britain team is in no doubt - despite the Scot missing yet another crunch fixture.Britain beat Turkey in Eastbourne at the weekend to avoid relegation to the competition's lowest tier. But that win was achieved without Murray, who also missed the defeat by Lithuania in March, and some critics have slated the Scottish star for picking and choosing his ties.Smith, though, revealed there is no animosity towards Murray from him or the rest of the team. He said: "It's no problem. When he wants to come back in the team of course we'll love that because he's one of the world's best players."We're all friends with Andy and that positivity is something that we enjoy. Everyone is working together to make things better."Colin Fleming and Ken Skupski won the doubles on Saturday to give Britain an unassailable 3-0 lead. Scot Jamie Baker saw off Tuna Altuna and James Ward beat Ergun Zorlu yesterday, both in straight sets, to complete a 5-0 whitewhash.Smith added: "They can go away with great confidence from winning in what is a pressure situation and they can build on that for the rest of the year."
