Winston Salem Open discloses player field for debut event – Tennis News
Winston Salem Professional Tennis (also known as the Winston Salem Open) disclosed the player field for the new ATP World Tour 250 Event which will take place from August 21st to 27th. Last year
in December the USTA and ATP World Tour had relocated and renamed the event which was previously located in New Haven, Connecticut to Winston-Salem Professional Tennis located on the campus of Wake Forest University.
The newly-constructed state-of-the-art tennis facility is built to host both professional and collegiate tennis events. The tournament will be played a week before the US Open on Deco-Turf II courts, with a prize money of USD 553,129/-
and a total financial commitment of USD 625,000/- the winner of the singles event will take home USD 74,630/- and of the doubles event will take USD 30,650 each.
The men’s singles competition will see the likes of world top 100 players and an additional field for 16 doubles team will be finalized closer to the tournament. Additionally, they announced their first wild card entry to Ryan
Harrison. Harrison has played all the three grand slams that have taken place till today. His last run was at Wimbledon where he qualified to the second round but lost battling against David Ferrer (world number 6) 7-6(6), 1-6, 6-4, 3-6, 2-6.
Tournament Director Bill Oakes was excited about the he roster of players coming to the Winston-Salem Open. While looking forward to top players at the event Oakes said, “The response from so many top-ranked players is a testament
to the reputation the Winston-Salem Open is gaining in tennis circles around the United States and the world”.
The roster for the men’s singles event will include famous names such as Mardy Fish, John Isner, Sam Querrey, Ryan Harrison and Alexandr Dolgopolov, all them had committed previously during this year.
Highlights of the player field include names such as: Sergiy Stakhovsky who is technically the defending champion of this ATP World Tour event as last year he won the Pilot Pen Championships.
James Blake is a local favourite of the fans and has achieved ten career singles titles and five doubles titles. This year he has not been playing much because of an injury but will definitely thrive on the hard court season. Another
favourite of the fans of Wake Forest tennis is Somdey Devvarman; although he ranks at world number 65 he won four ACC singles titles making him the only player in ACC history to do so.
Last but not the least Jurgen Melzer currently stands at world number 12 and is a doubles specialist. He is also the only player to be ranked in the top 15 for both singles and doubles.
Tags: