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Thursday, August 31
U.S. women's team will stay intact
Associated Press
NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- Serena Williams will play doubles with
her sister Venus at the Sydney Olympics after an arbitrator on
Wednesday turned down a bid by Lisa Raymond to replace the
defending U.S. Open singles champion on the American tennis team.
Raymond said she was extremely disappointed at the ruling and
insisted she deserves a spot on the team because she is the
top-ranked doubles player in the world.
"You don't fight your butt off to become the No. 1 doubles
player in the world and don't get chosen to go the Olympic Games.
How that's not good enough -- you tell me," Raymond said.
The WTA Tour rankings were used to select the singles players -- Lindsay Davenport, Venus Williams and Monica Seles -- for the Olympics, but coach Billie Jean King completed the squad by picking
the younger Williams to play doubles.
Venus Williams had indicated after winning Wimbledon last month
that she might skip the Olympics unless her younger sister was
picked, too.
Raymond filed for arbitration, saying Serena Williams had no
rankings in doubles after playing just two tournaments in the last
year. Her petition was denied.
She could not explain the arbitrator's rationale for his
decision, but she said the USTA should change its rules in the
future to make the Olympic criteria clear.
"The USTA's goal has always been to provide a fair and
objective process in selecting the U.S. Olympic team," Rick
Ferman, executive director of the U.S. Tennis Association, said
Wednesday in a statement. "We regret any misinformation that may
have led to confusion.
"We now look forward to what we believe will be a most
successful Olympics for the U.S. women's Olympic tennis team. As
Americans, we are thrilled to have such a qualified group of women
tennis players representing our country in Sydney."
King said it was "unfortunate that we can't take all the great
American players that are eligible to compete for the U.S. team. We
will have a strong team in Sydney and it's our job to go out there
and win every medal we can win."
Seles said the controversy could have been avoided if the team
had simply gone by the rankings, which she said was "a much fairer
process." A player's council proposal to go by rankings was
defeated by one vote, she said.
"If you want to win a gold medal, you should win amongst the
best," Seles said.
The Williams sisters and Davenport have combined to win the
women's singles in four of the last five Grand Slam tournaments. The
Williams sisters are the defending U.S. Open doubles champions and
also won the doubles at Wimbledon in July.
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