Doubles Jeopardy Time for U.S. Olympic Team

The beauty of the Olympics, at least in this sport, is that there seems to be more intrigue and suspense surrounding the selections than the competition itself.

Finally, a semblance of structure is taking place. After weeks of uncertainty, the team of Alex O’Brien and Jared Palmer has been selected to play doubles for the United States in Sydney, sources said. The announcement by the USTA is scheduled this week.

As previously reported, Andre Agassi and Michael Chang will be playing singles. Pete Sampras always said he did not intend to play, and Jan-Michael Gambill is concentrating on the season-ending indoor swing.

O’Brien and Palmer were always the logical choice. O’Brien played with Sebastien Lareau of Canada last year, winning the U.S. Open and ATP World Doubles Championship, but made a commitment to play with Palmer this season for the purpose of Davis Cup and the Olympics.

They started off well, reaching the final at Doha, Qatar and winning the title at Indian Wells. But their season took a downward turn when they lost in straight sets to the Czech doubles team of Jiri Novak and David Rikl in the Davis Cup quarterfinals at Los Angeles in April.

Inexplicably, U.S. captain John McEnroe seemed to lose total confidence in Palmer and O’Brien and never seriously considered them to play against Spain in the semifinals a little more than a week ago.

It’s certainly not a huge stretch that either O’Brien or Palmer might have performed better than a very nervous Chris Woodruff did in the doubles against Alex Corretja and Juan Balcells.

DOUBLES, TAKE TWO

Following the philosophy of sending the best possible doubles team, the selection of Venus and Serena Williams made the most sense. The Williams sisters may not have played much in 2000, but they are the reigning Wimbledon champions. In 1999, they won the French Open and U.S. Open.

No one else can match that record in Grand Slam events, not even Lisa Raymond, who won the Australian Open in January with doubles partner Rennae Stubbs. Raymond, however, is understandably upset, according to Lindsay Davenport. Monica Seles, who will be going to the Olympics in singles, was quoted as saying she thought Raymond should go to Sydney to play doubles.

“If Lisa is not selected, there is something wrong with the system where the No. 1 doubles player in the world is eligible to play doubles in the Olympics, wants to play in the Olympics and yet is not allowed to play in the Olympics,” said Phil de Picciotto, president of Octagon, Raymond’s management agency.

“Olympic organizers are all lobbying and encouraging the best players in the world to participate, so we are hopeful that these authorities find a way to give Lisa the opportunity which she so clearly deserves.”

OLYMPICS, LAST WORD

The announcement that Martina Hingis would not play in the Olympics got a great deal of attention. But there was one oversight. Hingis, according to the ITF’s rules, would not have been eligible to play, anyway.

She has not played Fed Cup for Switzerland this year or last, and the rules state a player has to make herself available for that competition for two of the following years--1997, 1998, 1999, 2000--provided that one of the two years is either 1999 or 2000.

The Williams sisters were not familiar with the rules until Fed Cup captain Billie Jean King told them of the Olympic qualification procedures. They made themselves available last summer against Italy and played in the final against Russia in September.

LA COSTA UPDATE

How deep is the field at the La Costa event?

Included in the qualifying field is Cara Black of Zimbabwe, who reached the quarterfinals of the event at Palo Alto last week, as well as Rossana De Los Rios of Paraguay, who made the fourth round at the French Open as a qualifier.

The event, which starts today, is already sold out for Sunday’s final.

There are several decent first-round matches: Former two-time champion Jennifer Capriati will play Elena Likhovtseva tonight at 7; wild card Alexandra Stevenson, formerly of San Diego, will play Anna Kournikova; and fifth-seeded Conchita Martinez of Spain will face wild card Kim Clijsters of Belgium.

Defending champion and top-seeded Hingis is in the same half of the draw as third-seeded Venus Williams; second-seeded Davenport and fourth-seeded Seles are in the other half.

QUOTE, UNQUOTE

* “It seems like I’m on fire.”--Corretja, who has won two tournaments in the last three weeks and helped Spain reach the Davis Cup final. He has won 16 consecutive matches.

* “You guys don’t need to worry about your jobs.”--Chang, on whether he would eventually join the retired Jim Courier in the media.