Barty, Osaka lead women’s entries for tennis in Tokyo

WTA World No.1 Ashleigh Barty and No.2 Naomi Osaka will be making their Olympic debuts at Tokyo 2020 Games. The ITF has confirmed the final entry lists for...

WTAWorld No.1 Ashleigh Barty and No.2 Naomi Osaka will be making their Olympic debuts at Tokyo 2020 Games. The ITF has confirmed the final entry lists for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Tennis Event.The finalized entry list includes the top nine players on the Porsche Race Leaderboard, as well as 15 of the WTA Top 20. Amongst the Top 20, only the USA’s Sofia Kenin and Serena Williams, Canada’s Bianca Andreescu, Romania’s Simona Halep, and Belarus’ Victoria Azarenka have opted out.Between the men’s and women’s fields, a total of 46 nations will be represented in this year’s Olympic tennis event, which will take place at Ariake Tennis Park from Saturday, July 24 until Sunday, August 1st.According to the ITF’s Olympic Qualification System, entries are based on the WTA rankings on June 14, the Monday after Roland Garros. All players must be in good standing with their national association and have made themselves available to represent their country in the ITF’s international team competitions. The entry lists are still subject to change. However, with the deadline for adding new players having passed, any further replacements would need to be from players already on-site in Tokyo, e.g., a doubles-only player moving into the singles draw.In addition to direct qualification of the top 56 players by ranking - with no more than four singles players qualifying per nation - the ITF also reserves eight Final Qualification Places. These qualification spots are held for (1) athletes based on their performance at the Pan American Games, the Asian Games and the African Games, (2) one previous gold medalist or Slam champion who does not qualify by ranking, (3) representatives from the host nation.Top women’s entries: 1. Ashleigh Barty, Australia; 2. Aryna Sabalenka, Belarus; 3. Barbora Krejcikova, Czech Republic; 4. Iga Swiatek, Poland; 5. Karolina Pliskova, Czech Republic; 6. Naomi Osaka, Japan; 7. Garbine Muguruza, Spain; 8. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Russia; 9. Ons Jabeur, Tunisia.