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Roger Federer Gets Free Pass to Tokyo Olympics 2020; Kei Nishikori’s Entry Not Announced Yet

Published 10/23/2019, 2:40 PM EDT

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The participation of Roger Federer and Kei Nishikori at the Tokyo Olympics Games 2020  has been unsettled as they haven’t played any Davis Cup ties since Rio Olympics 2016. The ITF president David Haggerty clarified the situations of Nishikori and Federer.

The Olympics criteria state that a tennis player should have participated at least twice in the Davis Cup events between two Olympics events and both Federer and Nishikori have failed to meet the requirements.

“We have specific rules and this is one of the arguments that sets us apart from other competitions,” Haggerty mentioned. The Davis Cup is the qualifying round for the Olympic Games. In Kei’s case, if he plays the first round next year, he will be eligible for the Games. In addition, Switzerland has the possibility of nominating Roger to be in Tokyo by a specific criterion: He has been a medallist in the past.”

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Even before the announcement, Roger Federer had clear chances to qualify for the Tokyo Games. According to ‘Eligibility For The Olympic Tennis Event’ World Number three, Federer has the license to play the Tokyo Olympics Games 2020 due to his previous commitments towards Olympic and Davis Cup events.

The exemption states that “Commitment to the Olympic Tennis Event and/or Davis Cup or Fed Cup: A player’s historical participation in one or both competitions.” Federer does sync in with it. 

Presently, Roger Federer is slamming the tennis ball in Basel, Switzerland. The Swiss maestro is through to the quarterfinals of Swiss Indoors Basel 2019 with a straight-set victory over Radu Albot.

At present, Nishikori’s case falls under the ‘injury/illness’ exemption as the Japanese tennis player is dealing with an injured elbow. He underwent right elbow surgery this week to remove two small bone spurs.

He has a chance to participate in the quadrennial event since the exemption states, “the injury or illness must be evidenced through authorized medical records, clearly identifying the period of absence from all competitive tennis.”

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Kei will be missing the Davis Cup Finals 2019 in Madrid, Spain owing to his elbow issues and as a consequence, he called off his tennis season 2019.

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If Japan fails to reach the semi-finals in the re-formatted Davis Cup in the month of November in Madrid, then Kei Nishikori will get a chance to qualify for the Olympics by participating in the qualifying event in the month of March next year.

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Mahalakshmi Murali

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Mahalakshmi Murali joined EssentiallySports in 2018 as a tennis author and has gone on to pen more than 1800 engaging articles, probing into various aspects of the sport and its illustrious players. With her expertise on the sport, Mahalakshmi has interviewed stalwarts from the sport such as Serena WIlliams’ coach Patrick Mouratoglou and Kevin Anderson’s physio, Carlos Costa. Equipped with her vast experience and a keen understanding of the sport, Mahalakshmi now co-heads the tennis department.
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