USTA Billie Jean King NTC to Host US Open National Playoffs Eastern Sectional Qualifiers in April
The USTA Eastern Section has announced that the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing, N.Y. will host the U.S. Open National Playoffs Eastern Sectional Qualifying Tournament, April 16-22, 2011. The USTA also announced the return of the U.S. Open National Playoffs to expand the footprint of the U.S. Open by providing the opportunity for all players 14 years of age and older to earn a berth into the Open. This year, the tournament will now include mixed-doubles in addition to men’s and women’s singles. The U.S. Open National Playoffs mixed-doubles champions will receive a main draw wild card into the 2011 U.S. Open. The U.S. Open National Playoffs men’s and women’s singles champions again earn a wild card into the U.S. Open Qualifying Tournament, held the week prior to the U.S. Open.
The U.S. Open National Playoffs will again operate as a series of sectional qualifying tournaments, held in 16 USTA Sections throughout the country, including Flushing, N.Y. The 16 men’s, women’s and mixed doubles champions from each sectional qualifying tournament will advance to the U.S. Open National Playoffs – Men’s Singles, Women’s Singles and Mixed Doubles Championship. All three tournaments will be held in conjunction with the New Haven Open at Yale, an Olympus U.S. Open Series event. The U.S. Open National Playoffs – Men’s Singles and Women’s Singles Championship will be held Aug. 18-21. The U.S. Open National Playoffs – Mixed Doubles Championship will be held Aug. 24-27.
Registration for each of the 16 sectional qualifying tournaments begins on March 15 at www.usta.com/tennislink. The entry fee for each of the sectional qualifying tournaments is $125 for singles and $150 for each mixed-doubles team ($75 per player). All players competing must have a current USTA membership valid through Aug. 29, 2011.
“We again expect the top junior players, collegians, teaching professionals, ‘weekend warriors’ and other recreational players to come out in large numbers to compete this year in singles and now mixed doubles,” said Jim Curley, Chief Professional Tournaments Officer & U.S. Open Tournament Director. “The New Haven Open at Yale will be a great host for the championships and the winners will be close to New York for the US Open.”
A player may only enter and compete in one sectional qualifying tournament during a calendar year; players competing in men’s singles or women’s singles and mixed doubles may opt to compete at different sectional qualifying tournaments (one for singles and one for mixed doubles). The draw size at each sectional qualifying tournament will be a maximum of 256 for each singles event and a maximum of 128 teams for mixed doubles. Participants can be of any playing level, from aspiring novice to seasoned professional, giving everyone an equal opportunity to advance.
In all, 1,232 players (859 men, 373 women) competed in the inaugural edition of the U.S. Open National Playoffs last year, ranging from experienced professionals to recreational players of all talents and walks of life (including Olympic skier Bode Miller, former Major League Baseball player Todd Walker and Rabbi Gregg Ackerman of Long Island, N.Y.). In the end, Blake Strode, a former top-ranked collegian from the University of Arkansas who learned the game at an NJTL chapter in his hometown of St. Louis, Mo., and Alexandra Mueller, a 22-year-old from Abington, Pa., who competes regularly on the USTA Pro Circuit, emerged as the US Open National Playoffs champions and earned wild cards into the 2010 US Open Qualifying Tournament.
The U.S. Open Qualifying Tournament will be held Aug. 23-26 and the U.S. Open Mixed Doubles Championship begins Aug. 31 at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing, N.Y. The 2011 U.S. Open begins on August 29.
For more information, visit www.usta.com.
