The China Open, jointly organised by the ATP and the Women's Tennis Association (WTA), begins on Monday (September 29), a day before the men's singles final here, meaning an Asian Games finalist would be unable to play his first round match in Beijing.

The WTA have seemingly adopted a flexible approach, allowing players to report to China later or even withdraw to focus on the Asian Games, but the ATP have rejected any such concessions.

"There is a rule on the ATP World Tour which determines that players cannot be entered into more than one tournament in the same tournament week," an ATP spokesman told insidethegames this evening.

"Players playing in the Asian Games on Monday September 29 and Tuesday September 30 would not be eligible to compete in either Beijing or Tokyo as those events are in the same week.

"Players are responsible for deciding whether to enter or withdraw from tournaments and determine their own playing schedules."

The three-year ban with which they allegedly threatened leading players is longer than ones given for doping cases in tennis, which have not exceeded two years, although the spokesman has now added that, "it is extremely unlikely that, in this case, violating the one tournament per week rule would lead to a suspension".

"The sanctions that could apply for a player in breach of these rules cover a wide range of possibilities," it was explained.

World number 59 Denis Istomin and Farrukh Dustov of Uzbekistan, as well as Kazakh pair Andrey Golubev and Alekstandr Nedovyesov, who both played a crucial role in their country's victory over China in last night's team final, have pulled out of the Asian Games to avoid the sanction and were not included in the men's singles draw

Andrey Golubev, pictured at the US Open last month, is one of several players to have already withdrawn from the Asian Games after being threatened with a three-year ban  ©Getty Images



But Taiwan's world number 43 Lu Yen-hsun has opted to stay and compete, although it is not yet known if he will pull out at a later stage.

"I can deal with the fine, that doesn't matter, but I can't accept the ban," Lu said, according to the website Apple Daily.

"We were shocked when we received the notification.

"It came just an hour before registration for individual events [at the Asian Games].

"Now all that can be done is to play until I can't play anymore."

The China Open is one of 11 events that make up the ATP Tour 500 series, which in itself makes up the ATP World Tour, a marathon 11 month event culminating in the finals in London in November.

The issue opens further questions over the position of extra events, such as the Asian Games, in an already overpacked tennis programme. 

But the decision to react so strongly has been criticised by the Olympic Council of Asia, who have urged sports governing bodies to "protect the rights of athletes to represent their country", amid an insistence that to not do so goes "against the ideals of the Olympic Movement".

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