The International Tennis Federation (ITF) has allowed Russian and Belarusian tennis players to compete at the 2024 Olympics, but there seems to be one problem.
With the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris approaching, tennis players are slowly shifting their focus to the clay courts at Roland Garros, which will not only serve as a venue for the season's second major, but also the Paris Olympics.
While men and women are competing in separate Olympics race rankings to be among the Top 56 players that qualify for the Olympic Games, participation of players from certain countries is still not sure.
In December 2023, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) allowed Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete as individual neutral athletes ("AINs").
But already then it was clear that ITF would need to also allow them to compete at the Olympic tournament. That decision by the ITF came now, but it leaves more questions than answers.
To compete at the Olympic Games, tennis players need to fulfil certain quotas, which include playing for their nation at the Davis Cup or the Billie Jean King Cup, something that Russian and Belarusian athletes weren't able to do in the previous years.
In their statement, the ITF clearly outlines that to be eligible to compete at the Olympics, tennis players will "need to meet the selection and eligibility requirements as set out in the applicable ITF Regulations."
For WTA players such as Aryna Sabalenka and Victoria Azarenka, who were not able to represent Belarus, and Russian players Daria Kasatkina, Liudmila Samsonova, Veronika Kudermetova, Ekaterina Alexandrova, and Anastastia Pavlyuchenkova, that may not be possible, unless the rules were altered for players from these countries.
The same, of course, applies to ATP players like Daniil Medvedev, Andrey Rublev, and Karen Khachanov, who all, too, weren't able to represent their nation since the War in Ukraine started. The ITF's full statement reads:
"The International Olympic Committee and International Paralympic Committee will allow qualified and eligible athletes with Russian and Belarusian passports to compete in the Paris 2024 Olympic Games as Individual Neutral Athletes (“AIN”) and Paralympic Games as Neutral Paralympic Athletes (“NPA”)."
"The ITF confirms that tennis players from these nations will be allowed to enter the Olympic and Paralympic tennis competitions in an individual and neutral capacity if they comply with the IOC’s AIN and the IPC’s NPA principles."
"Neutral athletes will need to meet the selection and eligibility requirements as set out in the applicable ITF Regulations. “The ITF decision aligns with the majority of International Federations (IFs) regarding individual competition and athletes participating in the Paris 2024 Games this summer. The ITF’s position is also in accordance with tennis’ existing international policy which was adopted in March 2022."
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