Olympic Games: Greetings from Tokyo 2020 – ITF awards wildcards

Interesting changes for the fields of participants at the Olympic Summer Games 2020 in Tokyo: Six places each for the women’s and men’s teams will be allocated according to a new mode.

The Olympic Games in Pyeong Chang have long since picked up speed, and medals will be awarded in South Korea until the end of next week. Then, however, the attention of the Olympic movement is already directed towards Tokyo, where the next summer games will take place in two and a half years’ time. And with regard to tennis, the International Tennis Federation (ITF) has announced some changes in the qualification criteria.

64 places will be awarded in the men’s and women’s tableaux, 56 of which will be awarded to the best in the world’s ranking lists – if those entitled to do so wish. The experience of Rio de Janeiro teaches us that the desire to participate in the Olympic Games is not a lasting wish of all top tennis players.

Eight start tickets, however, will be awarded by the ITF, as its President David Haggerty explained. And six of these can be won in qualifying tournaments. For example, there is a wildcard for the winners of the African Games and the two finalists of the Pan America Games, each of which will be held in 2019. The individual champions of the Asian Games are allowed to plan for Tokyo 2020 a little earlier, and these will be determined next year.

In Europe and Oceania, smaller associations in particular are given a chance: one starting place each goes to the lady or those men who are classified as the best in their country in the world ranking, but who are not directly qualified.

According to Haggerty, qualifications at the individual continental games are one way of strengthening the significance of these events. In Rio de Janeiro, professionals from 56 nations took part in the tennis competitions, with Monica Puig and Andy Murray winning gold medals in the singles.