Six Americans Receive Wild Card Entries Into U.S. Open Main Draw
The USTA has announced that Brian Baker, playing in his first Grand Slam since the 2013 Australian Open, 2012 Olympian and former world number 43 Ryan Harrison, 2010 NCAA singles champion Bradley Klahn and 2011 NCAA singles finalist Rhyne Williams have been awarded men’s singles main draw wild card entries into the 2013 U.S. Open. Other American men receiving U.S. Open main draw wild cards are Rajeev Ram and 2013 USTA Boys’ 18s champion Collin Altamirano. Australia’s James Duckworth and France’s Guillaume Rufin will also receive wild cards.
The 2013 U.S. Open will be played Aug. 26-Sept. 9 at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing, N.Y. Both the men’s and women’s singles champions this year will earn $2.6 million, the largest payout in tennis history, with the ability to earn an additional $1 million in bonus prize money—for a total $3.6 million potential payout—based on their performances in the Emirates Airline U.S. Open Series.
Baker, 28, of Nashville, Tenn., is attempting to make yet another remarkable comeback from injury. After being sidelined since the 2013 Australian Open in January, when he suffered a significant knee injury during his second-round match against Sam Querrey, Baker returned to competitive play last week at the USTA Pro Circuit $100,000 Challenger in Aptos, Calif., and has advanced to the second round of this week’s Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati on the Emirates Airline U.S. Open Series. Baker, now ranked 185th, ascended to 52nd in the world in 2012 after injuries kept him sidelined for nearly six years.
Harrison, 21, of Shreveport, La., rose to No. 43 in the world in 2012, the year in which he also represented the U.S. in the London Olympics and in Davis Cup. On the Emirates Airline US Open Series this summer, Harrison, now ranked No. 102, reached the semifinals at the BB&T Atlanta Open and defeated former world No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt in the first round of the Citi Open in Washington, D.C.
Klahn, 22, of Poway, Calif., earned a U.S. Open wild card as the top American points earner at select USTA Pro Circuit events this summer. The 2010 NCAA singles champion while a sophomore at Stanford, Klahn won the USTA Pro Circuit $100,000 Challenger in Aptos, Calif., last week, catapulting to a career high rank of 123rd. Last year, Klahn received a wild card into the U.S. Open Qualifying Tournament, qualified and reached the second round, becoming the first men’s qualifying wild card to win a U.S. Open main draw match.
Williams, 22, of Knoxville, Tenn., reached his first ATP semifinal in Houston this year and played in the main draws of the French Open and the Australian Open, winning a USTA playoff to gain entry into the latter. Now at a career-high rank of No. 114, He was a 2011 NCAA singles finalist while at Tennessee, and his grandfather, Michael DePalmer Sr., was the Volunteers’ longtime coach who helped found the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy.
Ram, 29, of Carmel, Ind., is the highest ranked American who did not receive direct entry into the U.S. Open at the entry deadline. Ram owns one singles title (Newport, 2009) and seven doubles titles on the ATP World Tour and has been ranked as high as 78th in singles. Ram qualified and reached the second round of the 2013 Australian Open.
Altamirano, 17, of Yuba City, Calif., earned his wild card by winning the USTA Boys 18s National Championship singles title, doing so in historic fashion. Altamirano became the first unseeded player to win the tournament in the 71 years it has called Kalamazoo, Mich., home.
Duckworth, 21, of Sydney, Australia, received a wild card through a reciprocal agreement with Tennis Australia, which will grant an American a wild card into the 2014 Australian Open, to be determined by a USTA playoff (Rhyne Williams was the 2013 winner). Currently at a career-high rank of 150, Duckworth reached the second round of the 2013 Australian Open and qualified for both the French Open and Wimbledon this year.
Rufin, 23, of Charnay, France, received his wild card through a reciprocal agreement with the French Tennis Federation, which awarded a wild card into the 2013 French Open to an American player designated by the USTA (Alex Kuznetsov won the USTA Pro-Circuit event-based system this year). Rufin, currently ranked 92nd, has played in all three Grand Slam main draws this year, reaching the second round of the Australian Open and Wimbledon.
In addition to the eight U.S. Open men’s singles main draw wild cards, the USTA also announced eight men who have been awarded wild card entries into the U.S. Open Qualifying Tournament, which will be held Aug. 20-23 at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. One additional U.S. Open qualifying wild card will be awarded to the winner of the 2013 US Open National Playoffs–Men’s Championship, taking place this weekend, Aug. 16-19 in New Haven, Conn.
Players receiving 2013 U.S. Open qualifying wild cards are: 17-year-old Noah Rubin of Rockville Centre, N.Y., who has been as high as number six in the world junior rankings; 2013 USTA Boys’ 18s National Championship runner-up Jared Donaldson (16, Cumberland, R.I.); 2011 French Open boys’ champion Bjorn Fratangelo (20, Pittsburgh, Pa.), who has won three Futures titles in 2013; Christian Harrison (19, Shreveport, La.), who reached the 2012 US Open doubles quarterfinals with his older brother, Ryan Harrison; Jarmere Jenkins (22, College Park, Ga.), who came one win short of winning the NCAA triple crown this summer, leading Virginia to its first NCAA team title, winning the NCAA doubles title and reaching the NCAA singles final; former Wimbledon and French Open boys’ semifinalist Mitchell Krueger (19, Fort Worth, Texas), who won his first pro singles title in June; UCLA sophomore Dennis Novikov (19, San Jose, Calif.), the 2012 USTA Boys’ 18s national champion who defeated 2013 Wimbledon semifinalist Jerzy Janowicz in the first round of last year’s US Open; and Tennys Sandgren (22, Gallatin, Tenn.), a former standout at Tennessee who has won five USTA Pro Circuit Futures singles titles in the last two years.
