Beijing Olympic Games

Updated: 2008-07-10

(BEIJING, July 9) — The United States Tennis Association (USTA) has announced four women players for the US Olympic tennis team at the 2008 Beijing Olympics which will be held between August 10 to 17.

US women tennis coach Zina Garrison, was quoted on the official website of USTA as saying, there are three singles and two doubles teams on the entry list. Among the four players, three of them are former Olympic gold medalists. In addition, the world No 1 women’s doubles team are on the list.

Venus Williams and Serena Williams (Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)

Venus Williams who won the champion at the Wimbledon last week will participate in both singles and doubles, according to the USTA official site. The 28-year-old player won the champions at 2000 Sydney Olympics in both singles and doubles, but lost in the early round with her partner Chanda Rubin at 2004 Olympics. Now she wants to pursue her Olympic dreams again. She was quoted as saying on the NBC Olympics website: “I love the Olympics; I had great success in Sydney and a wonderful experience in Greece. I’m looking forward to the same thing there, and I would love to have gold in singles and gold in doubles with Serena That’s the plan.”

Venus’ little sister, Serena Williams, will also play in the singles and doubles as a pair of Williams sisters, according to the USTA official site. The silver medalist at Wimbledon last week was officially invited to the Olympics by the USTA, the governing body for the sport of tennis in the US on June 26. She had her first and only Olympic gold medal with her sister at 2000 Sydney Games. Unluckily, Serena was dropped out of the 2004 Athens Games due to a server knee injury. Beijing is an ideal place for her to continue her Olympics medal dreams. At the Australian Open and Sony Ericsson Open this year, Serena has committed to coming to Beijing for her country. To play in the doubles is not the only mission for Williams sister, they will also play at Beijing Olympics for their own medal.

Lindsay Davenport (Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)

The former world No 1 player Lindsay Davenport will participate at Beijing Olympics as a great mother. She has returned to Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) tour less than one year after giving birth to her little son, and raised her ranking rapidly from number 234 to number 26 on June 9 to qualify for Olympics. The 32-year-old mother won the gold medal at 1996 Atlanta Games when she was only at her 20. It is more than ten years from the last time when she won the Olympic gold medal. Davenport is very excited about Beijing trip, was quoted on the NBC Olympics website as saying: “I’ve been planning to go all year, and my family’s excited. Obviously, it’s a tough trip for a tennis player because we go from the States to Asia then back to New York for the US Open. But I can’t wait. It was one of the main factors why I came back, and I look forward to get to Beijing.” She will participate in both singles and doubles with the other squad member Liezel Huber, according to the USTA official site.

Liezel Huber (Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)

The listed player who will only participate in women’s doubles at Olympics is Liezel Huber, according to the USTA official site. She was born in Durban, South Africa, but competes for and resides in the US. With the same age with her partner Davenport, this pairs have been keeping the top doubles status since July 2007. It is the second time for this veteran taking part in Olympics. At 2000 Sydney Games, she competed for South Africa with her doubles partner Cara Black. Even changed her partner, Liezel Huber also keeps her top status by cooperate well with different types of players. Huber has won three Grand Slam doubles titles, and made her debut for the US Fed Cup team in April this year.

According to Arlen Kantarian, CEO of the USTA, was quoted on the official website of USTA as saying, each of the player have worn the Stars and Stripes as part of the US Davis Cup and Fed Cup teams, and will be outstanding competitors – and first class ambassadors for the US in Beijing.