Australian and Chinese tennis officials signed a bilateral agreement yesterday to improve the standard of players in both countries in the lead-up to the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Under the agreement, Australian and Chinese players will co-operate in joint training programmes and will be given special wildcard entries in tournaments in each other's country.

"We think we can both help one another further develop tennis in Australia and China," Tennis Australia president Geoff Pollard said in a statement.

"As the leading tennis nation in the Asia Pacific, and China as the largest country in the world, together we can do a lot to develop the game of tennis."

Although no Chinese has won a grand slam, they are starting to make their mark on the tour, while Li Ting and Sun Tiantian won the women's doubles gold medal at the Athens Olympics.

"In China, they're really keen to develop tennis as an icon sport there, as a major sport, and are looking to Australia to help if we can," Australian Open tournament director Paul McNamee said.