US Open Wild Cards Announced; My Podcast with Alex Gruskin Reviewing Last Week's Kalamazoo and San Diego Events; Tennis Recruiting Network's Recap of 14s National Championships

The US Open wild cards, for both main draw and qualifying, for both men and women, were announced today by the USTA, with few surprises. 

Aside from the wild card to 43-year-old Venus Williams, the women's wild cards skewed younger, with 2021 USTA National 18s champion Ashlyn Krueger, 19, and 2021 US Open girls champion Robin Montgomery, who turns 19 next month, selected for the main draw.

Women's US Open main draw wild cards:

Caroline Wozniacki

Venus Williams 

Kayla Day 

Clervie Ngounoue 

Ashlyn Krueger 

Robin Montgomery 

Fiona Ferro(French reciprocal) 

Storm Hunter(Australian reciprocal)

The three men's main draw wild cards not previously announced went to Michael Mmoh, Alex Michelsen and John Isner. There's a similar age gap there, with Michelsen turning 19 next week and Isner, 38 years old, contemplating retirement.

Learner Tien

Ethan Quinn 

Steve Johnson 

Michael Mmoh 

John Isner 

Alex Michelsen 

Benjamin Bonzi(French reciprocal) 

Rinky Hijikata(Australian reciprocal)

The qualifying wild cards, especially on the women's side, feature plenty of current and former college players:

Women's US Open qualifying wild cards:

Liv Hovde

Valerie Glozman

Makenna Jones(UNC) 

McCartney Kessler(Florida)

Fiona Crawley(UNC)

Mary Stoiana(Texas A&M) 

Katrina Scott

Chloe Beck(Duke) 

Katherine Hui(Stanford)

Men's US Open qualifying wild cards:

Brandon Holt(USC)

Zachary Svajda 

Trevor Svajda 

Patrick Kypson(Texas A&M)

Aidan Mayo 

Tristan Boyer(Stanford)

Martin Damm 

Eliot Spizzirri (Texas)

Darwin Blanch

Holt and Zachary Svajda are close to getting into qualifying on their own rankings, so new names may surface for qualifying wild cards in the next few days.

The release on the women's wild cards is here; the release on the men's wild cards is here.

The wild cards for the US Open Junior Championships typically aren't released until next week, after the J300 in College Park Maryland.

While my Kalamazoo 16s recap will be up at Tennis Recruiting Network Thursday, and the 18s on Friday, one wrapup has already been completed. Yesterday I was a guest on the Cracked Racquets Mini-Break podcast, where Alex Gruskin and I discussed this years 16s and 18s National Championships in San Diego and Kalamazoo and debated which city offer the superior experience. I love San Diego and Barnes Tennis Center, and Lornie Kuhle has done an outstanding job of elevating the girls event, but I can't conceive (yes I'm biased) how Kalamazoo finishes second in his estimation. 

Granted the weather is not as reliably dry, but the history alone is enough, with players competing on the same courts as Arthur Ashe, Stan Smith, Jimmy Connors, John McEnroe, Andre Agassi, Jim Courier, Pete Sampras, Mike and Bob Bryan; the list of slam champions who played here is a who's who of American tennis and the boards with all the champions names is one of the most popular gathering places throughout the tournament. And, as I told Alex, if you can find better viewing for tennis than the stands behind the three show courts at Stowe Stadium, I'd love to see it. Plus, blueberries and cream.

Have a listen; it's a lively discussion.

The recaps of the USTA 14s National Championships are up today at the Tennis Recruiting Network; Lyla Middleton swept the girls titles in Rome Georgia and Tanishk Konduri swept the boys titles in Mobile Alabama. Konduri also swept the titles at the Clay Court Championships last month, so he is definitely one to watch for next year's Kalamazoo.