Nishikori gets Schuettler in first round of Olympics
Kei Nishikori at the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy
The draw for the Olympics came out earlier today, and NBTA alum Kei Nishikori will face Germany’s Rainer Schuettler in the opening round. Schuettler’s entry into the Olympics was criticized by the ITF earlier this week because when the list of competitors was originally drawn up his ranking was not high enough to gain entry. You had to be ranked in the top 64 to get into the Olympics, but he was ranked #89. He then had a great Wimbledon (where he reached the semis), and moved up to #34 in the world.
“Schuettler’s improved ranking took him above compatriot Denis Gremelmayr, who was ranked 66th when the draw was made but whose inclusion was not confirmed by the German national committee. To the ITF’s chagrin, Schuettler, whose claims have been upheld by the committee, will now replace Gremelmayr after successfully appealing to the CAS (Court of Arbitration for Sport) on the basis that several eligible players have withdrawn,” said Les Roopanarine of The Guardian.
“The CAS panel found that Schuettler was among the top players eligible for the Olympics according to the ITF criteria set up in their rules and that there was a discretion in the German NOC to enter the players of its choice from among such eligible players,” said the CAS. “The German NOC did enter Nicolas Kiefer and Schuettler but chose not to enter Gremelmayr and Michael Berrer although both were ranked higher than Rainer Schuettler in the ITF ranking list.”
Here was the response from the ITF:
“The ITF is very disappointed with the decision and feels that the precedent set today could ultimately harm the rights of international federations to set qualification criteria and puts the role of the international federation in the Olympic Games into discussion. It is very disturbing for the ITF, and should be for the IOC [Olympic Organising Committee], when players who do not meet the ITF qualification criteria, approved by the IOC, are entered at the expense of players who qualified and deserve to represent their countries at the 2008 Olympic Games.
Every tennis event around the world uses the world ranking as the basis for entry and the ITF finds it difficult to accept that criteria can be changed from country to country depending on the views of particular NOCs. The German Olympic Committee used their criteria to refuse the entry of Gremelmayr who should have received direct acceptance under the ITF qualification system. The next German in the list was Berrer who was six places ahead of Schuettler at the entry deadline. Schuettler did not fulfil the entry criteria set by the German NOC until well after the June 9 deadline and, therefore, should not have been considered for entry.
While recognising that the German NOC may not understand how professional tennis works, there is no excuse for Schuettler, who is prepared to take a place that was earned by his compatriot Gremelmayr and of next alternate Berrer. The ITF wishes him the best of luck even if he was not eligible for Beijing.”
Nishikori had been battling an abdominal injury that kept him out of play since Wimbledon, although we are hearing that he is feeling 100% now! He has been training hard at the Academy for the last couple of weeks and looked good the last time I saw him. This will be the first time he faces Schuettler in his career, and we wish him nothing but the best of luck in his inaugural Olympics!
I wait next 2012 year, will best tennis in history- Djokovic,Federer,Nadal- Murray,Conag is back….