Conscription ordered for Olympic Participation

[Bartelby]

In other words, play for the ITF or you're out of the Olympics:


'The ITF has decided to change its qualification rules for the 2016 Olympics. After the 2012 Games, a player must make himself or herself available to play Davis Cup or Fed Cup four times in an Olympic cycle. Currently, players only have to make themselves available for two ties in the two prior years to the Olympics.'

 

[Colin]

It does seem like a kind of shaming into playing for your country. It's one thing for players from Spain, France and the U.S. It's another if you're in Britain or Switzerland and your team's only hope of victory.

Yet, playing four times over four years will do little to lift the marquee value of the Davis Cup — and it seems that's the ITF's goal. Instead of appealing to players' patriotism, why not appeal, much more adroitly and practically, to their egos and pocketbooks?

Tennis is so ingrained with the spirit and triumph of the individual, why not create some kind of MVP with a ton of prize money for the player with the most match wins (percentage of sets and games if needed)? There could be one for each group. That way the top players won't drop in for a single tie, but will be motivated to play every rubber they can from the start.

Sure, pride in your nation is one thing. A piece of engraved silver and a million bucks is another.

 

[Bartelby]

Those are some good ideas, but the ITF lacks imagination.

They also need a new format for the Cups.

 

[Colin]

Those are some good ideas, but the ITF lacks imagination.

They also need a new format for the Cups.

I think so, too. How can they make it more exciting?

Maybe the surface is determined by lottery just for the sake of fairplay (indoor or outdoor can be decided by the host country due to weather) or they could do half the matches on hardcourt and then half on a natural surface ... or they go crazy and make one of those half clay-half grass courts Nadal and Fed played on in that exhibition match.

Maybe more countries are involved in the world group, the matches go three sets and four countries compete in a tie in some sort of WTF-like format.

 

[OTMPut]

Tennis is an individual sport. It will be very difficult to rally mercenaries under a national flag. Forced participation might end up bringing down the quality.

 

[iriraz]

In other words, play for the ITF or you're out of the Olympics:


'The ITF has decided to change its qualification rules for the 2016 Olympics. After the 2012 Games, a player must make himself or herself available to play Davis Cup or Fed Cup four times in an Olympic cycle. Currently, players only have to make themselves available for two ties in the two prior years to the Olympics.'

So the player has to make himself available to play 4 ties but this doesn`t necessary mean he will play.It`s easy for a top player to ask the captain to give him a spot in the team even if he is injured and then sitout through the whole tie so he would make himself eligible for the Olympics.

 

[vive le beau jeu !]

In other words, play for the ITF or you're out of the Olympics:


'The ITF has decided to change its qualification rules for the 2016 Olympics. After the 2012 Games, a player must make himself or herself available to play Davis Cup or Fed Cup four times in an Olympic cycle. Currently, players only have to make themselves available for two ties in the two prior years to the Olympics.'

how the hell do they define "make oneself available" ?
and what about up and coming players ?... some of them could even not have the opportunity to "make themselves available" before their first olympic games !

 

[Bartelby]

The rules will have those sort of exceptions, but the point of them is to force the Federers and others of the world to turn up a bit more.

 

[Colin]

how the hell do they define "make oneself available" ?
and what about up and coming players ?... some of them could even not have the opportunity to "make themselves available" before their first olympic games !

I think with Venus, she made herself available if needed for Fed Cup, but her condition would prefer her sitting on the sidelines, so she was able to qualify regardless. (She ended up playing doubles, I think.)

With most players, if they're going to make the emotional investment to travel and be a part of the team, then they'd probably prefer to play than sit on the sidelines anyway.

But you do raise a good point about players who "make themselves available" only to be ignored by the team captain, like a vegetarian entree in a Southern steakhouse.

 

[vive le beau jeu !]

I think with Venus, she made herself available if needed for Fed Cup, but her condition would prefer her sitting on the sidelines, so she was able to qualify regardless. (She ended up playing doubles, I think.)

With most players, if they're going to make the emotional investment to travel and be a part of the team, then they'd probably prefer to play than sit on the sidelines anyway.

But you do raise a good point about players who "make themselves available" only to be ignored by the team captain, like a vegetarian entree in a Southern steakhouse.

... or a texan oil magnate in an indian veggie restaurant !

any official link for this announcement, by the way ?

 

[Bartelby]

The report is on tennis.com

 

[vive le beau jeu !]

The report is on tennis.com

thx !
so here's the link:
http://www.tennis.com/articles/templates/news.aspx?articleid=17487&zoneid=25
(they also seem to mention some of the aforementioned issues in this report)

 

[vive le beau jeu !]

WTA opposes Olympic qualification changes

WTA opposes Olympic qualification changes
Ticker - Friday, May 4, 2012

The WTA has opposed the ITF's changes to the qualification rules for the 2016 Olympics, Tennischannel.com reports.

After the 2012 Games, a player must make himself or herself available to play Davis Cup or Fed Cup four times in an Olympic cycle. Currently, players only have to make themselves available for two ties in the two prior years to the Olympics.

"Without question, the athletes and the WTA believe in a strong international team competition," WTA Chairman and CEO Stacey Allaster said. "They enjoy the concept in a team environment playing for their country. The WTA also believes that a strong women’s international team competition is good for our sport. Where we have a difference of opinion with the ITF is in the commitment system, which is just too much in today’s women’s professional tennis world."

In a statement to TENNIS.com earlier this week, ITF spokesperson Barbara Travers stated: "The Olympics is not a regular tournament; it takes more than ranking to participate. In order to compete in the Olympics, every athlete must be in good standing with their national governing body. The mechanism to demonstrate the willingness to represent your country in tennis is by making yourself available to play Davis Cup by BNP Paribas or Fed Cup by BNP Paribas, something we acknowledge that most players have embraced. The reward is playing in the Olympics, which we feel should be a privilege reserved for those players who clearly demonstrate that playing for their countries is a priority. We also think the rule should reflect that tennis is an annual calendar and Davis Cup/Fed Cup are annual competition."

Allaster said that the WTA spent five years reducing player commitments, streamlining its calendar, and having less top events "because it was too much [for the players]. We couldn’t consistently deliver and we couldn’t get the top players to play, so we recognized that. The ITF seems to be going in the opposite way."

The ITF still could still make amendments to the rule ahead of the ITF Olympic Committee meeting in June, where there will be discussions and everything will be finalized. It is presumed that the WTA will try to persuade the ITF to make some amendments at that meeting.

The ATP has yet to establish an official position on the subject, but ATP spokesperson Kate Gordon told TENNIS.com that "the ATP and its players have an ongoing dialogue with the ITF, and this is one of a number of issues the players are discussing. While players enjoy representing their countries, it is clear that some feel there should be changes to the system to make it more flexible, and sustainable for the future, given the nature of today’s game."—Matt Cronin

from: http://tennis.com/articles/templates/news.aspx?articleid=17514&zoneid=25

 

[TennisMaestro]

This is simply the ITF trying to promote the Davis/Fed Cup as every player wants to play in the Olympics but the DC ties can be so tedious and ill-timed.

ITF need to change the structure of the Davis Cup, make it once every 2 years and reserve 2-3 weeks in the tennis calendar for it.

 

[DolgoSantoro]

I am opposed to this. It favors players from stronger countries who presumably will have more chances to play ties. Of course I could just be misunderstanding what they mean

 

[Tenez101]

I thought this was like military conscription for a sec, lol...

 

[TennisMaestro]

I am opposed to this. It favors players from stronger countries who presumably will have more chances to play ties. Of course I could just be misunderstanding what they mean

Making yourself available is exactly what it says, making yourself open for selection, you don't need to be selected but as long as your country can call on you if needed is making yourself available.

Players like Nadal, Djoko and Murray were not available as they "refused" to play DC ties.