As expected, on July 4 it became known which of the Russian tennis players will go to the Paris Olympics, which will be held in late July or early August. The International Tennis Federation (ITF) has published the list of participants in singles and doubles. Since February 2022, the Russians (and also the Belarusians) act in a neutral position; in this regard, nothing has changed. Here is who will go from Russia to the 2024 Games (in parentheses is the place in the ATP/WTA rankings after Roland Garros):
Men
Women
couples
* Confirmation pendient.
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To understand how and why this particular composition came about, we need to go back a little. Initially, four tennis players, both male and female, who were ranked above their compatriots in single rankings as of June 10, 2024, i.e. the day after Roland Garros, were supposed to go to the Games. The men were Daniil Medvedev, Andrei Rublev, Karen Khachanov and Roman Safiullin, the women were Daria Kasatkina, Lyudmila Samsonova, Ekaterina Alexandrova and Mirra Andreeva.
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Then the screening began. Many tennis players started to refuse. Thus, Rublev, Khachanov, Kasatkina and Samsonova were left off the list, as well as Anna Kalinskaya and Anastasia Potapova, who, as stated on the official IOC website, also received invitations, but declined them. In this regard, the Russian Tennis Federation (RFF) added Pavel Kotov, Aslan Karatsev, Veronika Kudermetova and Diana Schneider to the application. But Karatsev and Kudermetov are not on the final list. Why?
In the case of Karatsev, everything is more or less clear. Aslan simply does not qualify, and in order to get to the Olympic tournament, he needs mass withdrawals from participants who are higher in the rankings. And according to Kudermetova, one can only assume that the IOC decided that the athlete does not meet the criteria for neutral status. Previously, Veronica trained at the CSKA sports club.
“Veronica has already had problems before, when foreign colleagues accused her of having connections with CSKA; she once coached at this club. Unfortunately, the IOC now has questions for Veronica. The International Olympic Committee has not yet decided whether to admit Kudermetova. The problem should be resolved in the near future,” Match TV quoted a source as saying at the end of June.
Veronica Kudermetova
Photo: Iñaki Esnaola/Getty Images
It is also not yet clear whether the 2016 Olympic doubles champion Elena Vesnina will play in Paris. In order to participate in the Olympics, the athlete, who according to the classification did not qualify for the Games, decided to resume her career. But for now she herself does not know whether she will be allowed to enter the doubles category together with Alexandrova. We remind you that the Olympic champion of previous years or the winner of the TBS can receive a kind of wildcard for the Olympics.
“Of course I would like to go to my fifth Olympics. And there is always hope for medals and a good performance. But not everything is entirely clear yet,” TASS quotes Vesnina as saying.
At the same time, FTR President Shamil Tarpishchev added that Vesnina could appear in the final list instead of Kudermetova if Veronica is not allowed. “I specially added Vesnina to the reserve. She can really play in Paris as a partner, if Kudermetova still does not go. This is a safety net, a normal thing in such cases,” Match TV quotes Tarpishchev as saying.
The complete lists of participants in the Olympic tournament are available in the “Championship”: men and women. The tennis tournament of the Paris Olympic Games will be held from July 27 to August 4.
