Tears, tantrums as French women blow Olympic hopes

PARIS - There were tears and tantrums from Alize Cornet and Pauline Parmentier as their hopes of representing France at the London Olympics vanished following first-round defeats at Roland Garros.

With world number eight Marion Bartoli ineligible to compete at the Games as she does not play in the Fed Cup, Cornet and Parmentier had hoped to make the cut for the July 28-Aug. 5 tournament at Wimbledon.

Cornet's 6-4 6-4 defeat by China's Zheng Jie and Parmentier's 6-4 6-3 loss to Pole Urszula Radwanska mean that the duo will drop out of contention for London as they will fall below the cutoff point in the WTA rankings.

Qualification for the Olympics is based on the June 11 WTA rankings, with 56 players -- a maximum of four per country -- picked on sporting grounds and six others receiving an invitation with two extra wildcards attributed to developing nations.

Players must also have made themselves available to represent their country in the Fed Cup for two years in the run-up to the Olympics - one of them being in 2011 or 2012.

"Alize and I are both very much disappointed. Last week we said, well, maybe the two of us will be playing during the Olympic Games," Parmentier told a press conference on Tuesday.

Quizzed again on the matter, the 62nd-ranked Parmentier snapped: "Oh, come on. You've asked me the question 25 times so you have the answer.  

"I'm not going to talk about this generation thing. Of course there is a generation issue. That's the question you keep asking. So, okay, we won't be playing the Olympic Games.  Okay, move on.

"Maybe you want to ask other people and not just the players. We do our best."

In comparison, an utterly dejected Cornet broke down in tears as she tried to come to terms with her near miss.

Alize Cornet of France adjusts her racket during her match against Zheng Jie of China during the French Open tennis tournament at the Roland Garros stadium in Paris May 28, 2012.