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Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Happy Thanksgiving; 14 of 16 Competitors for USTA's Australian Open Wild Card Tournament Announced

Tomorrow, Thanksgiving Day, is one of the very few days I take off during the year. A big family dinner in North Carolina will be followed by a long drive to Bradenton, Florida, where I begin my coverage of the Eddie Herr. The Tennis Recruiting Network will have my preview of the 16s and 18s on Friday, followed a few days later by my preview of the 12s and 14s. This is one time during the year when junior tennis has the spotlight nearly all to itself, and I'm looking forward not only to watching the players I know, but to getting a first look at others, especially in the 12s.

I hope you have a wonderful holiday, and thank you again for reading zootennis.

The USTA's Australian Open wild card tournament, which will again be held in Atlanta, is scheduled for December 14-16 at Life Time Tennis in Norcross.

All eight of the women and six of the men participants have been announced:

WOMEN:
Mallory Burdette
Julia Cohen
Irina Falconi
Alexa Glatch
Madison Keys
Bethanie Mattek-Sands
Maria Sanchez
Alison Riske

MEN:
Steve Johnson
Bradley Klahn
Daniel Kosakowski
Denis Kudla
Tennys Sandgren
Rhyne Williams

Madison Keys, who won the wild card tournament last year, is the youngest player, at 17, while Bethanie Mattek-Sands is the oldest, at 27.  I'm a bit surprised not to see Jessica Pegula and Chi Chi Scholl, who would be in if the USTA just went down the ranking list, but it's possible they declined. Taylor Townsend and Grace Min, both from the Atlanta area, are also notable in their absence.

While the women's selections appear to have gone mostly by WTA ranking, the men's do not, with many veterans with higher rankings than the above six players not in field.  Jack Sock, at a new career-high ATP ranking of 150, is the most obvious player missing, with Donald Young, who lives in Atlanta, also not among the participants. There are two more players to be added however, so check the tournament website for that announcement, and if you are in the area, ticket information.

5 comments:

Michael said...

Jack Sock not being named at this point is big news.
He's beaten most on the list.
Had some big wins and increased his ranking by 231 places year over year. All this after losing 4 months to surgery.
Anyone have insight to why he wouldn't be here?

the tennis guy said...

One of two things: wants to quality because if you take the WC into a grand slam and you lose first round you have to count that result as one of your best ofs, two, there are only six names listed ad he may be named at a later date.

fwiw said...

Tennis guy, one additional point, if you get a main draw WC and lose first round, you get 0 points. Everyone else gets at least some points even if you lose first round of the main draw. If money is not a major issue, you can potentially benefit more point wise by qualifying. Plus, Sock has played many of those guys in the 5 fall challengers, 2 in CA and the 3 indoor ones

Michael said...

Looks like Jack Sock is in according to their web site. One more to go. Should be a VERY competitive and entertaining event.

not surprised said...

christian harrison is the last player into the usta aussie open wildcard tournament in atlanta... wow...big surprise :)