Venus’ Olympic Hopes Could Cause Chaos

Written by: Staff on 8th February 2012

Venus' Olympic Hopes Could Cause Chaos

Serena Williams of the United States serves to Ekaterina Makarova of Russia in their fourth round match against at the Australian Open Grand Slam tennis tournament in Melbourne, Australia, 23 January 2012. Makarova won in two sets. EPA/BARBARA WALTON |

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The sight of Venus Williams striking balls again during the United States 5-0 whitewash of Belarus in Fed Cup was heartening to her fan base as the seven-time major champion has struggled mightily to get back on court after revealing at the US Open that she is contending with the autoimmune disease, Sjogren’s syndrome.

But after she and fellow American Liezel Huber walked off court in victory in doubles, Williams said that her main goal this year is to qualify for the Olympics, which could complicate things mightily for other US women players.

“The big push for me is the Olympics this year, so I can get back on the court and get my ranking up,” said Venus, who would not commit to a firm return date to the tour.

As it stands today, in order to automatically qualify for the London Olympics she needs to get her ranking up into the top 56 by the end of Roland Garros. She is currently ranked 133.

She has no points to defend until Eastbourne, but going by this week’s rankings she would have to add another 651 points to make the cut. If she fails to reach the top 56, the 2000 Olympic gold medalist could ask for a wild card, but may not get one as the U.S. might already have the maximum of four women to qualify in singles (as of today, only Serena Williams and Christina McHale would automatically qualify, but Vania King and Bethanie Mattek-Sands are close at Nos. 59 and 68 and both have expressed desires to play).

Should her sister Serena make the cut in singles (which automatically qualifies her for doubles), she and Venus might ask for a wild card for doubles as they are the defending gold medalists, but that might push other US players out, like the top 10 ranked doubles team of Liezel Huber and Lisa Raymond, as each country can only have a maximum of six different players in singles and doubles.

Interestingly, top 10 doubles players do automatically qualify for the Olympics, but there is one major caveat — they have to be nominated by the host country. So if the scenario occurs of Serena, McHale, King and Mattek-Sands qualifying in singles happens and Huber and Raymond qualifying in doubles (and King might qualify in doubles too given that she currently has top 10 ranking) then the USTA would be forced to pick between Venus and a doubles player, unless Serena opt out of doubles as Venus could play with another American. That scenario is not out of the realm of possibility, given that Serena has already expressed a desire to play mixed doubles and is wary of playing three events.

While a number of different scenarios could still play out as the Olympic cut off is not until Roland Garros ends in June, what the USTA wants to avoid is a repeat of its nightmarish 2000 scenario, when the No. 1 ranked Raymond sued the USTA and Olympic and Fed Cup captain Billie Jean King after she was passed over for the team in favor of Serena, who ended up playing doubles with Venus and winning the gold. Raymond’s partner at the time, then No. 7 Corina Morariu was also passed over.

Back in 2000, King did not have to go off a ranking list because the WTA had decided not to include the Olympic results in their rankings, so it was up to the captain. There was also the factor of Venus saying that she wasn’t sure if she would play the Olympics if Serena were not selected.

Raymond was furious. “My expectation was that I had to be the No. 1 doubles player to make the Olympic team, so I really focused on my doubles to attain that ranking,” Raymond said at the time. “I played when I was injured, even though I may not shouldn’t have been playing. I earned that spot without a doubt. You can’t do much better than No. 1…The Olympics is a dream, and to have it right in front of me, then to have it taken away, it’s frustrating. No matter the outcome, I feel very good about what I’m doing.”

Hopefully for the USTA in mid June, things won’t be so complicated. Almost all of Mattek-Sands’ points in singles are during the first half of the season so she will have to make a monster push to crack the top 56. But for now, there are potential dark clouds on the horizon.

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