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LONDON, July 20, 2021 /PRNewswire=KYODO JBN/ --

- World No. 1s Novak Djokovic and Ashleigh Barty lead a strong field at Tokyo

2020

- Seven former Olympic medallists and 11 Grand Slam singles champions will be

vying for gold

- Players representing 46 nations heading to Tokyo for the Olympic Tennis

Event, 24 July - 1 August

The final entry list

[https://www.itftennis.com/media/5472/tokyo-2020-olympic-tennis-event-entry-list

-19-july.pdf] for the Olympic Tennis Event has now been published as top

players from around the world begin to arrive in Japan to compete for their

nations at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

Players representing 46 countries will compete for Olympic glory as the

competition gets underway on Saturday 24 July at the Ariake Tennis Park. Seven

of those players – Petra Kvitova, Elena Vesnina, Bethanie Mattek-Sands, Andy

Murray, Kei Nishikori, Rajeev Ram and Novak Djokovic – will all be hoping to

repeat or build-on past success as medallists at previous Olympic Games.

There are also a number of Olympic debutants who will be eyeing a place on the

podium at first time of asking, with players including Daniil Medvedev,

Stefanos Tsitsipas, Alexander Zverev, Ashleigh Barty, Naomi Osaka and Aryna

Sabalenka amongst those competing at their first games. The highly competitive

field includes the current top ten women and seven of the top ten men in the

2021 season standings.

As a key member of their 2010 Davis Cup winning team, Djokovic is no stranger

to success on the world stage for Serbia, and he will be aiming to improve on

his Beijing 2008 bronze by adding a fourth gold to his nation's all-time tally

across all sports. Djokovic said: "I am very proud to pack for Tokyo and join

our national team in the fight for the shiniest medals on the Olympic stage.

For me, playing for Serbia has always been a special joy and motivation and I

will do my best to make us all happy!"

World No. 1 Ashleigh Barty, meanwhile, will be hoping to make a mark at her

first Games. She shared her feelings of excitement and pride with

itftennis.com: "I think representing your country is the highest honour. You're

playing for something bigger than yourself; you're playing to make people

proud, and that's not just with the results, that's with the attitude."

The list was finalised following the 16 July deadline for final reallocations –

replacements for withdrawals from the singles and doubles entries will now come

from those already on the list.

David Haggerty, ITF President, said: "These players know the unique and special

experience of representing their country at the Davis Cup, Billie Jean King Cup

and other Olympic qualification events, and we are very fortunate that despite

the challenges of the past 18 months, we are now here in Tokyo for the Olympic

Games. We wish everyone competing good luck and hope their experience in Tokyo

creates lifelong memories."

Draws will be made on Thursday 22 July and published on the ITF website.

Entries for the 16-pair Olympic mixed-doubles event will be determined on site

on 27 July.

Further information about the qualification process can be found here

[https://www.itftennis.com/en/news-and-media/articles/olympic-tennis-qualificati

on-explained/]. The final entry list can be found here

[https://www.itftennis.com/media/5472/tokyo-2020-olympic-tennis-event-entry-list-19-july.pdf].

Source: International Tennis Federation