LONDON — Roger Federer and 16 of the other top 20 men, and Ana Ivanovic and 17 other top 20 women have entered the tennis tournament at next month’s Beijing Olympics.
The International Tennis Federation used the ATP and WTA rankings as a guide to determine who gets the 56 direct spots in the men’s and women’s singles competitions. Six of the remaining eight spots in each tournament were given out by the ITF’s Olympic Committee.
Each country, however, was limited to a maximum of six players in each tournament, with up to four competing in singles and up to two teams in doubles. The Olympic tennis tournament runs Aug. 10-17.
• Light flyweight Luis Yanez said he will fight his removal from the U.S. boxing team, requesting an appeal hearing for early next week and retaining a lawyer in hopes of being reinstated to the team.
• Olympic gold medalist Tim Montgomery, who had been scheduled for trial next week on heroin distribution charges, has opted for a plea hearing today in Richmond, Va.
• Double-amputee sprinter Oscar Pistorius slowed on the final straight in his first able-bodied race in nearly a year, finishing fourth and well outside the Olympic qualifying time in Milan, Italy.
• Germany’s Lars Riedel retired from a discus career that included an Olympic gold medal and five world titles.
• The United States beat Norway 4-0 in a tuneup for the Olympic women’s soccer tournament.
Fulmer, Pearl get new deals.
Tennessee signed football coach Phillip Fulmer and basketball coach Bruce Pearl to deals that will keep them with the Volunteers through 2014.
• Indiana University will give up two basketball scholarships for the upcoming season in anticipation of penalties related to the NCAA’s Academic Progress Rate.
• Georgia defensive end Michael Lemon has been charged with a felony stemming from a fight last weekend that injured another Georgia student.
• Brandon Dillard, a redshirt junior wide receiver expected to contend for significant playing time for Virginia Tech this season, will instead miss the season after rupturing his right Achilles tendon in player-organized offseason workouts.
• Georgia baseball coach David Perno received a raise and a five-year contract.
Footnotes.
Less than two months after her sudden retirement, Justine Henin isn’t completely ruling out a return to tennis.
“I can never say for sure that I’ll never be back because I hate to say never,” Henin said. “But for me, and the people who know me, they know that when I do something, I do it 200 percent.”
• In his first workout since running last in the Belmont Stakes last month, Big Brown went five- eighths of a mile in a slow 1:06.71 at Aqueduct.
The Associated Press
