Issue link: http://itf.uberflip.com/i/680484
It's not long now until the eyes of the world — and the world's best tennis players — move to Rio for the much-anticipated first Olympic Games to be held in South America. ITFWorld looks at preparations and key dates for tennis in the world's greatest sporting spectacle. C ompeting in the Games of the XXXI Olympiad is on most top tennis players' priority lists for 2016, and their wait for the trip to the carnival capital is nearly over. Entries into the singles and doubles tournaments will be announced on 30 June, a little over five weeks before competition begins at the Barra Olympic Park on 6 August. In Rio, the tennis stage is almost set. Last December the Olympic Tennis Centre became the first venue in the Barra Olympic Park to stage an Olympic test event. The Brazilian Tennis Federation (CBT) hosted the Correios Brasil Masters Cup, which served as a test event for both the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic tennis competitions. A total of 70 competitors took part in Brazilian tennis's year-end finals, playing on all ten match courts that will be used during the Games. Thiago Monteiro and Gabriela Ce won the men's and women's titles, while junior events were held in the 16, 14 and 12-and-under age groups. Brazilian stars Thomaz Bellucci, Joao Souza and Bruno Soares also took part in exhibition matches. OLYMPIC TENNIS Let the Games Central to the Olympic Tennis Centre is the distinctive red-and-yellow coloured Centre Court, which has capacity for 10,000 people to watch the matches. There will also be two temporary show courts for 5,000 and 3,000 spectators. During the test event, the Centre Court was officially named after the 19-time Grand Slam champion Maria Bueno, who was joined on court by three-time Roland Garros champion Gustavo Kuerten for the inauguration ceremony. The Centre Court stadium will be part of the legacy to Rio after the Games together with seven additional courts. In addition to hosting future events, the tennis centre will be used for the training of high performance athletes, as well as for young people who are part of social projects linked to sport. After the last Olympic tennis gold medals are presented on Sunday 14 August (weather permitting of course), the facility will have just under four weeks to prepare for the Paralympic Tennis Event, with the wheelchair tennis competition getting underway on 9 September. Look out for a Paralympic preview in the next edition of ITFWorld. Left to right, first two images: the Olympic Tennis Centre during the test event Centre right: Brazil's Gabriel Silva competing in the test event Far right: Gustavo Kuerten and Maria Bueno at the Centre Court inauguration with Rio Mayor Eduardo Paes, left, and Rio 2016 President Carlos Nuzman, right Roger Federer as flagbearer in Beijing