Russia names Olympic-bound tennis women and men
The top 4 women from each country according to the WTA rankings are eligible to go to the Beijing Olympics automatically.
Maria Sharapova, ranked second on the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) list, leads the way with Svetlana Kuznetsova (WTA No 4) and Elena Dementieva (WTA No 5).
The only slight surprise is World No 9 Dinara Safina, replacing No 8 player Anna Chakvetadze, as the fourth member of the Russian team.
“Chakvetadze had asked not to include her in the team,” said Shamil Tarpishchev, of the Russian Tennis Association. She has suffered with stress since an armed robbery at her Moscow house late last year and failed to reach the third round of this year’s French Open. Beijing 2008
The men will be (according to ATP rank): World No 4, Nikolay Davydenko, Mikhail Youzhny, ranked No 7, Dmitry Tursunov (No 33) and Igor Andreev (No 37).
