'I won't be a reserve player'

Russian Tennis Federation president Shamil Tarpishchev said on Sunday that Kuznetsova would be the reserve in Russia's six-woman Olympic team, led by World No 1 Maria Sharapova.

Svetlana Kuznetsova

"I don't know why people think so, but I won't go to the Olympics as a reserve," Kuznetsova said on Twitter on Sunday.

"I will play a series of American tournaments."

Kuznetsova reached the Olympic quarter-final in Athens (2004), but lost to China's Li Na in the first round in Beijing four years later.

The Olympic tennis tournament will be played at Wimbledon, where Kuznetsova, a former French Open and US Open champion has reached the quarter-finals on three occasions.