Watch Trailer for Junior Documentary Top Class Tennis, Debuting Next Month on Amazon; USTA US Open Wild Card Challenge Begins July 1; Mullins Named CEO of ITA; Four USTA Pro Circuit Tournaments This Week

An official announcement from Amazon Prime, along with the trailer below, came today regarding the debut of the junior tennis documentary "Top Class Tennis." This documentary, part of the Uninterrupted series, was filmed at the Eddie Herr and Orange Bowl championships in December 2022, following four junior players: Joseph Oyebog, Ariana Pursoo, Stephanie Yakoff and Stiles Brockett.  The four-part series will air on Amazon Prime's FreeVee, with the first installment set for July 18. 

The USTA announced its annual US Open Wild Card Challenge to distribute one of the main draw US Open wild cards it awards each year. The men will have a six-week window, beginning July 1 and lasting through the week of August 5th, with the four best results at any hard-court, $25K and above, tournament anywhere in the world. The women will have a four-week window, beginning July 15 and also lasting through the week of August 5th, with the three best results at hard-court, W35 and above tournaments, counting in the race. Last year's winners were Steve Johnson and Kayla Day.

The ITA announced its new Chief Executive Officer today, with Dave Mullins, who has been with the ITA since 2019 and has been the Chief Operating Office since 2021, selected by the board to replace Tim Russell, who announced his retirement in January. Mullins and Russell will work together as co-CEOs for the next six months, with Mullins taking over on January 1, 2025.

Four USTA Pro Circuit tournaments are underway this week, with the SoCal Pro Series $15Ks for men and women both in Rancho Santa Fe; a $25K for men is in Tulsa Oklahoma and a W35 for women is in Wichita Kansas. 

Like the men's tournament in Wichita last week, the women's qualifying also had a 64-player draw, with eight players qualifying for the 32-player main draw. Americans advancing through qualifying are Paris Corley(Arizona, LSU), Sydni Ratliff(Ohio State), Jada Robinson, 16-year-old Rachael Smith, Camille Kiss and Malkia Ngounoue. 

Victoria Hu(Princeton) and Akasha Urhobo are the top two seeds. Wild cards were awarded to Amelia Honer(UC-Santa Barbara), Carson Tanguilig(North Carolina), Kate Fakih(UCLA) and Wichita State rising sophomore Giorgia Roselli of Italy.

Oliver Lincer of Poland, the rising UCF sophomore, received a special exemption after winning the W15 in the Dominican Republic; Fiona Crawley(North Carolina), who won the W15 in San Diego last week, has now won three consecutive USTA Pro Circuit tournaments since last fall, and will look to extend her 15-match winning streak as the No. 4 seed this week.

In Tulsa, five Americans advanced to the main draw with wins in the final round of qualifying today: Pierce Rollins (Texas A&M, Tulsa) Aidan Kim (Florida, Ohio State), Gabrielius Guzauskas (Illinois), JC Roddick (UCF, Texas A&M) and Nicolas Kotzen(Columbia).

Mitchell Krueger is the top seed, with Bernard Tomic of Australia seeded No. 2. Wild cards were given to Tyler Zink(Georgia, Oklahoma State), Govind Nanda(UCLA), Jonah Braswell(Florida, Texas) and Chad Kissell(Valparaiso).  Micah Braswell(Texas), the champion last week in Wichita, received a special exemption into the main draw.

In Rancho Santa Fe, four of the eight men's qualifiers were from the United States: Colton Smith(Arizona), Aadarsh Tripathi(UCLA), Ryan Dickerson(Duke, Baylor) and Alexander Petrov(Illinois).

Learner Tien(USC) is the top seed, after taking last week off following his two consecutive titles to start the seven-week SoCal Pro Series. Strong Kirchheimer(Northwestern) is the No. 2 seed. 

Wild cards were given to Ethan Schiffman(Cal), William Kleege, Masato Perera(Harvard) and Trevor Svajda, who is the No. 6 seed. Svajda played Alex Frusina(Auburn), who received entry via the ITF's Junior Reserved program in the first round today, with Svajda posting a 6-3, 6-2 win.

Six Americans advanced to the main draw in the women's tournament in Rancho Santa Fe: Ema Burgic(Baylor), Anne Lutkemeyer(UCLA), Gianna Oboniye(Mississippi State), Bianca Molnar(Notre Dame), Kaila Barksdale(Utah) and Elise Wagle(UCLA). 

Amy Zhu(Michigan) and Sara Daavettila(North Carolina) are the top two seeds. Wild cards were awarded to Maxine Murphy(Washington State), Filippa Bruu-Syversen(San Diego), Katie Codd(Duke) and 15-year-old Julieta Pareja. Fifteen-year-old Thea Frodin received entry via the ITF Junior Reserved program and won her first round match today over Elyse Tse(Washington State) of New Zealand 6-4, 7-5.