Six Americans Earn U.S. Open Men’s Singles Wild Card Entries
The USTA has announced that top 18-year-old Jared Donaldson, 2011 French Open Boys Champion Bjorn Fratangelo, 2012 Olympian Ryan Harrison, former Texas A&M All-American Austin Krajicek, 2015 NCAA champion Ryan Shane and 2015 USTA Boys 18s National Champion Frances Tiafoe have been awarded men’s singles main draw wild card entries into the 2015 U.S. Open, along with 2001 U.S. Open Champion Lleyton Hewitt of Australia, and Pierre-Hughes Herbert of France.
The 2015 U.S. Open will be played Aug. 31-Sept. 13 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 $3.3 million, with the ability to earn an additional $1 million in bonus prize money–for a total $4.3 million potential payout–based on their performances in the Emirates Airline U.S. Open Series.
Donaldson of Chepachet, R.I., is one of only four players ages 18 or younger ranked inside the ATP Top 200, at 153rd. He won his first Challenger title in February, at the $50,000 USTA Pro Circuit tournament in Maui, and recently qualified and advanced to the second round of the BB&T Atlanta Open.
Fratangelo of Pittsburgh, currently ranked 106th, will make his Grand Slam main draw debut after winning the USTA Pro Circuit’s U.S. Open Wild Card Challenge with his results at recent USTA Pro Circuit Challengers this summer. Fratangelo, who is named after Bjorn Borg, won the 2011 French Open Boys Singles Title, becoming the first American to do so since John McEnroe in 1977.
Harrison of Austin, Texas is currently ranked 126th. He competed for the U.S. in the 2012 London Olympics and reached a career-high 43rd in the world that summer. He reached his seventh ATP World Tour semifinal at Acapulco in February.
Krajieck of Tampa, Fla. is ranked 113th after advancing to the final at the USTA Pro Circuit $100,000 Challenger in Aptos, Calif., last week. Krajicek has won two Challenger titles, the second coming this May, since graduating in 2011 from Texas A&M, where he was a four-time All-American.
Shane of Falls Church, Va. is the 2015 NCAA singles champion and a rising senior at the University of Virginia. He went 36-8 in singles matches during his junior season.
Tiafoe of College Park, Md. is the 2015 USTA Boys 18s National Champion, currently ranked 271st in the world. He is a former world number two-ranked junior who made his Grand Slam main-draw debut at the 2015 French Open after winning the Har-Tru USTA Pro Circuit Wild Card Challenge.
The 34-year-old Hewitt received his wild card through a reciprocal agreement with Tennis Australia, which will grant an American a wild card into the 2016 Australian Open. The 2001 U.S. Open champion Hewitt, now ranked 162nd in the world, will make his 15th appearance in Flushing Meadows, where he was also the runner-up in 2004.
Herbert received his wild card through a reciprocal agreement with the French Tennis Federation. He is ranked 139th in the world and recently qualified and reached the second round at Wimbledon.
