Sport
Venus Williams ranking allows her to qualify for Olympics
Venus Williams prepares to serve. PHOTO/Reuters
Three-time gold medalist Venus Williams has the ranking she needs to become a four-time Olympian.
Williams climbed to 47th Monday in the WTA rankings, which determine who qualifies for the Olympics. The top 56 singles players are automatically accepted, with a maximum of four per country, and Williams is third among U.S. women behind her sister Serena (5th overall) and Christina McHale (29th).
The 4th American in women’s singles is expected to be Varvara Lepchenko, an Uzbekistan native who became a U.S. citizen in September. She’s ranked 52nd to edge out Sloane Stephens, ranked 57th, and Vania King, ranked 59th. Because of injuries and players declining to take part, the cutoff for making the Olympics has traditionally been in the high 60s.
McHale and Lepchenko would be first-time Olympians.
The USTA now awaits official invitations for its top players from the ITF. The ITF has yet to rule whether the Williams sisters and Lepchenko made themselves available for enough Fed Cup matches to be Olympic-eligible, but approval is anticipated this month.
The men’s team is expected to include John Isner (10th in the ATP Tour rankings), Andy Roddick (32nd), and two first-time Olympians, Donald Young (48th) and Ryan Harrison (52nd). Mardy Fish, the silver medalist in 2004, is ranked 12th but has said he’ll skip the Olympics.
In doubles, the U.S. team is expected to include third-ranked Bob and Mike Bryan and top-ranked Liezel Huber and Lisa Raymond. The men and women will each have one other doubles team, with the contestants chosen from those competing in singles.
