Whether Marina Erakovic goes to the Beijing Olympic Games will depend on two things, neither of which has happened yet.
First, the New Zealand Olympic Committee must receive a nomination from Tennis New Zealand on Erakovic's behalf. NZOC officials said it had not been sighted by last night.
Secondly, the Olympic selectors, Barry Maister, Simon Wickham and Mike Stanley, will discuss whether Erakovic fits the NZOC's criteria - that is, whether she "has the ability to finish in a top 16 placing".
The young Aucklander's world ranking jumped to a new high of No 64 this week, and inside the International Tennis Federation's cutoff of 67 for direct entry to the Olympic singles field. That field comprises 56 direct entries, six wildcards and two tri-partite commission picks, overseen by the International Olympic Committee and ITF.
Countries are limited to four players and once the excess - for example Russia have 12 in the top 67, and losing French Open finalist Dinara Safina will miss out on current rankings despite being world No 9 - are removed and any injured players drop out, the 20-year-old will walk in on a direct entry.
The NZOC have the necessary paperwork to send off to the ITF approving Erakovic's nomination, but it is worthless without the nomination. The ITF has signalled June 23 as the deadline for national Olympic organisations to have confirmed eligible players in the field.
Assuming the nomination arrives shortly, the intriguing aspect will be whether the Olympic selectors believe Erakovic fits the top 16 criteria.
She has jumped 100 places in the rankings in the past five months, made two WTA tournament semifinals, won a US$50,000 grasscourt tournament at Surbiton, England, last weekend and made the second round at the French Open last month in Paris.
In theory, Erakovic could draw a player of similar ranking in the first round in Beijing - or the top seed. To make the top 16, she would need to win her first two matches.
Erakovic yesterday won her first round match at the DFS Classic in Birmingham, beating Canadian Stephanie Dubois 6-4 6-4 and was playing sixth-seeded Indian Sania Mirza last night.
