By Erik Gudris | @atntennis | Sunday, July 28, 2024
Photo credit: Clive Brunskill/Getty
For many athletes, the opportunity to represent one’s country in global competition at the Olympics is the reward itself. Yet this year’s Summer Games in Paris is facing criticism in the Tennis event over its policy of last minute player substitutions.
This especially includes players with extremely low or even no current singles rankings.
MORE: Nadal Sets Up 60th Career Clash with Djokovic at Olympics
That was the case for top seed Novak Djokovic of Serbia who easily defeated Australia’s Matt Ebden 6-0, 6-1 in 53 minutes in his opening match on Saturday. Ebden, who currently has no singles ranking, though was once a World No.1 in doubles was placed into the singles draw as a last minute alternate.
Ebden was already in the event for men’s doubles.While Ebden, once ranked No. 39 in singles, tried his best, he was no match for Djokovic.
Afterwards, Djokovic while understanding the situation, said later he didn’t think it was a good look for the event to have such a lopsided matchup.
"There were a lot of singles players that had plenty of time, there were alternates, that could have been told to come," Djokovic said. "So this part I don't get and I really hope that the ITF along with the Olympics will consider changing this rule because it's tough on Matthew. He told me it's been over two years (since) he played an official singles match and he said this was his last singles match, he's officially retired. So as I said, it's not a great feeling for him being on the court like that."
Carlos Alcaraz faced a similar situation when, Hady Habib, representing Lebanon, was called up to face the recent Roland Garros and Wimbledon champion in the first round.
Though Habib is currently ranked World No. 275 in singles, it was also another one way win for Alcaraz 6-3, 6-1. Habib was inserted in the draw when Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz withdrew from the Olympics due to a knee injury suffered at Wimbledon.
Also due to injuries, both Alex de Minaur of Australia and Cameron Norrie of Australia withdrew before their opening rounds. They were replaced by Portugal’s Francisco Cabral and Greece’s Petros Tsitsipas, both already in the men’s doubles event.
The last-minute substitutions into the men’s singles event of players with very little singles experience or lack of a top 100 ranking frustrated many tennis players and fans.
Former World No.1 Andy Roddick took to social media to complain about the situation and offer some solutions.
The issue is a tricky one for Olympic officials to solve given trying to coordinate qualifications and scheduling with the regular tours.
According to Christoper Clarey, writing for the ITF Tennis website, officials had to navigate a hard cut off date of July 19 for bringing new players into the event. In this case, if Hurkacz had withdrawn before July 19, a player with a higher singles ranking would have been added to the event.
“We’re part of a much bigger operation here,” said Alex Hughes, the executive director of major events at the International Tennis Federation. “There’s nothing like it really in sport, and so in terms of logistics, we’re not as agile as at an ordinary tennis tournament. We can’t just swap and change things as we would like.”
Hughes added that the Olympic committee had to negotiate with national associations and players for a date that was fair for everyone. That’s why the July 19 cut off date was picked.
For Habib, he was entered into the event with a universality place, essentially a wildcard spot for athletes from underrepresented National Olympics Committees.
Finally, many top players, for a variety of reasons, chose not to compete at all at the Olympics. Some because of scheduling, some because of injuries, and some because they didn’t want to switch surfaces so quickly from the grass at Wimbledon, to the clay in Paris, and then to hard courts for the upcoming North American swing.
While the women’s singles event faced similar last minute withdrawals, players with established singles credentials were able to be added.
They included Katerina Siniakova, Daria Saville, and Lulu Sun who are already in the women’s doubles event.
Djokovic is set to face Rafael Nadal in his second round for a 60th career meeting between the two all-time greats.
Photo Credit: Clive Brunskill/Getty