Here comes the Olympics. On the tennis front, it has attracted quite a lot of criticism (see Wilander article weeks ago). Safin has added his always provocative thoughts: “The Olympics is not for tennis and tennis does not need the Olympics. It is not my goal in life to win a gold medal.” OK. Other players, such as Federer think differently. But you can’t accuse Safin of not wanting to play for his country, given his Davis Cup efforts. The problem is about scheduling. Why fly to Athens in the middle of the US circuit? A long-haul hop hardly helps.<br /><br />On the German issue, Larry Scott released a statement which was highly critical of the decision to prevent Anca Barna and Marlene Weingartner from playing. The best point, aside from all the ranking arguments, was that they completely ignored their own ruling in allowing Florian Mayer to play. It is not often you see such blatant, ugly, unsporting, chauvinist hypocrisy. As Scott put it: “The end result of this arbitrary and subjective decision by the German NOC is that two athletes with lifelong aspirations to play in the Olympics will not see their dreams come true.”<br /><br />For a full transcript of the statement, go to <a href=http://www.wtatour.atponline.net/global/includes/TrackIt.asp?file=/media/pressreleases/2004/Olympics_statement.pdf>http://www.wtatour.atponline.net/global/includes/TrackIt.asp?file=/media/pressreleases/2004/Olympics_statement.pdf</a>
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