NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) -- Serena Williams will play doubles with her sister Venus at the Sydney Olympics after an arbitrator on Wednesday turned down a bid by Lisa Raymond to replace the defending U.S. Open singles champion on the American tennis team.

 Raymond said she was extremely disappointed at the ruling and insisted she deserves a spot on the team because she is the top-ranked doubles player in the world.

 "You don't fight your butt off to become the number one doubles player in the world and don't get chosen to go the Olympic Games. How that's not good enough -- you tell me," Raymond said.

 The WTA Tour rankings were used to select the singles players -- Lindsay Davenport, Venus Williams and Monica Seles -- for the Olympics. Coach Billie Jean King completed the squad by picking the younger Williams -- the fourth-ranked player in the country -- to play doubles.

 The Williams sisters are the defending U.S. Open doubles champions and also won the doubles at Wimbledon in July.

 Venus Williams had indicated after winning Wimbledon last month that she might skip the Olympics unless her younger sister was picked, too.

 Raymond filed for arbitration, saying she was the top doubles player in the world and Serena Williams had no rankings in doubles after playing just two tournaments in the last year. Her petition was denied.

 In his decision, arbitrator Richard Jeydel knocked the USTA for the way it handled the matter, although his ruling ultimately upheld the group's decision.

 He said the team selection was made "in accordance with the letter, if not the spirit, of the procedures."

 The U.S. Tennis Association drew up a memo July 6 that granted King discretion in choosing the doubles player.

 The memo was drawn up "in flagrant violation of USOC requirements, the procedures and the fundamental principles of open, fair and objective Olympic team selection," Jeydel found.

 He also found that Raymond and King both were misinformed about the selection process.

 "(Raymond) was misled by USTA's untimely and ill-considered communications as to the standards to be followed in nominating team members," Jeydel found.

 Raymond said the USTA should change its rules in the future to make the Olympic criteria clear.

 Her lawyer, Greg Becker, said Jeydel carefully considered the rules and the record, but he had no concrete rules to go by in making the decision.

 "Because of the unclarity of the rules and what was argued about what they meant, there just wasn't enough for him to disrupt the apple cart," Becker said.

 Serena Williams' agent, Leland Hardy, said she had no immediate comment on the ruling.

 Raymond has no other legal avenue to pursue, but she may be able to play if someone on the team is injured.

 "The USTA's goal has always been to provide a fair and objective process in selecting the U.S. Olympic team," responded Rick Ferman, executive director of the U.S. Tennis Association. "We regret any misinformation that may have led to confusion.

 "We now look forward to what we believe will be a most successful Olympics for the U.S. women's Olympic tennis team. As Americans, we are thrilled to have such a qualified group of women tennis players representing our country in Sydney."

 King said it was "unfortunate that we can't take all the great American players that are eligible to compete for the U.S. team. We will have a strong team in Sydney and it's our job to go out there and win every medal we can win."

 Seles said the controversy could have been avoided if the team had simply gone by the rankings, which she said was "a much fairer process." A player's council proposal to go by rankings was defeated by one vote, she said.

 "If you want to win a gold medal, you should win amongst the best," Seles said.

 The Williams sisters and Davenport have combined to win four of the last five Grand Slam women's singles titles. Mary Pierce won the French Open earlier this year.