Tennis at the 2012 Summer Olympics
Template:Infobox tennis MSE The tennis competitions of the 2012 Summer Olympics are scheduled to be staged at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, London, from 29 July to 5 August, 2012.[1] 172 tennis players are expected to compete in five events; singles and doubles for both men and women and for the first time since 1924 mixed doubles will be officially included. The Olympic tennis events are run and organised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the International Tennis Federation (ITF), and will be part of the Association of Tennis Professionals and Women's Tennis Association’s tours.
Tournament
The 2012 Olympic tournament will be the fourteenth edition of tennis at the Olympics (excluding the two Olympics when tennis was a demonstration event), and the seventh since 1988 where tennis was officially brought back into the Olympic Games. Mixed doubles will be an official Olympic event for the first time since 1924, when Hazel Wightman and R. Norris Williams of the United States won the gold medal, and will be played for the first time since it was played as a demonstration event in 1968.[2][3]
The 2012 edition will be played on grass courts at the All England Club, just three weeks after the end of Wimbledon. Sessions will run from 11 am until about 8 pm or whenever the final match on each court finishes. Players will not be requested to follow Wimbledon tradition of wearing predominantly white clothes and will be encouraged to wear the colours of their country. The grounds will also be decked out in Olympic branding. Twelve courts will be used to stage matches including Centre, #1 and #2 courts. Court #3 will be used for warm-ups.[4] The Olympic tennis events will be organised jointly by the ITF, the IOC and the All England Club. Both the men’s and women’s singles and doubles events will be a part of the 2012 ATP World Tour and the 2012 WTA Tour.
Qualification
For the singles competitions, the top 56 in the world rankings on 11 June 2012 of the WTA and ATP tours will qualify for the Olympics. However, entry is limited to four players from a country, which means that players who qualify from countries with four higher-ranked players already participating will not participate, and players outside of the top 56 from countries with less than four players already participating will qualify. Of the other eight wildcard slots, six of the slots will be determined by the ITF's Olympic Committee, taking into account ranking and spread of nations represented, while the final two slots will be awarded by the IOC to players from small nations.
In the doubles competitions, twenty four teams will automatically qualify as per the rankings on 11 June 2012, subject to a maximum of two teams per nation. Players in the top ten of the doubles rankings can reserve a place, provided they have a partner to compete with. The remaining eight teams will be decided by the ITF's Olympic Committee. Entries for the mixed doubles will be confirmed at the Games.[5]
Points Distribution
The points distribution for the Association of Tennis Professionals and the Women's Tennis Association tours for the singles and doubles competition of the 2012 Olympic Games are listed below.
| Stage | Men's Singles[6] | Men's Doubles[6] | Women's Singles[7] | Women's Doubles[7] |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gold Medal | 750 | 685 | ||
| Silver Medal | 450 | 470 | ||
| Bronze Medal | 340 | 340 | ||
| 4th Place | 270 | 260 | ||
| Quarterfinals | 135 | 175 | ||
| Round Three | 70 | 95 | ||
| Second Round | 35 | 55 | ||
| First Round | 5 | 1 | ||
References
- ^ "Tennis". London 2012 Organization Committee. Retrieved 2 August 2008.
- ^ "IOC approves new events for London 2012". IOC. 10 December 2009. Retrieved 10 December 2009.
- ^ "Tennis at the 1924 Paris Summer Games: Mixed Doubles". sports-reference.com. Retrieved 28 April 2011.
- ^ "Wimbledon outlines plans for 2012". BBC News. 13 August 2010.
- ^ "ITF and ATP announce Olympic ranking point agreement" (PDF). 1 June 2011. Retrieved 14 June 2011.
{{cite web}}: Text "ATP and ITF" ignored (help); Text "ITF" ignored (help); Text "PDF" ignored (help); Text "format" ignored (help); Text "publisher" ignored (help); Text "work" ignored (help) - ^ a b "ITF And ATP Announce Olympic Rankings Points Agreement". atpworldtour.com. 1 June 2011. Retrieved 8 June2011.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=(help) - ^ a b "ITF and WTA agree Olympic ranking points". 16 February 2011. Retrieved 7 May 2011.
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