The format for replacing tennis players in the singles when there are withdrawals at the Olympics is creating some amusing scenarios.
Posted by
Dano (aka dano)
Jul 28 '24, 07:41
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Normally on the tennis tour there are qualifying rounds to get into the main draw. Then if someone withdraws from the main draw after it is set they will replace them with the highest ranked players who lost in the qualifying. They call them "Lucky Losers." They didn't qualify for the main draw so they're by definition not the top players, but they are generally ranked in the same ballpark as other players in the draw.
The Olympics doesn't have qualifying rounds and there have been multiple players withdraw due to injury. They have been forced to scavenge the doubles players to fill the slots.
The result is that there are three players playing in the Men's singles draw who currently have the same number of ATP singles ranking points as I do - zero.
Matthew Ebden was once a decent singles player who reached the top 40 in the rankings but retired from singles two years ago and only plays doubles now.
Petros Tsitsipas plays doubles sometimes with his brother who is highly ranked.
Francisco Cabral has generally always been a doubles specialist who hasn't played a singles tournament since 2022.
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