The USTA announced the finalized list of players invited to compete at its Australian Open wild card playoffs held during the 2009 Infinite Energy Atlanta Challenge at the Racquet Club of the South, a USTA Certified Regional Training Center in Atlanta, December 4-7. The event will feature exhibition matches on December 4, with the wild card playoffs commencing the next day.
Eight men and eight women will compete in the wild card playoffs. The USTA secured the opportunity through a reciprocal agreement with Tennis Australia where the two national tennis federations exchanged wild cards for the 2010 Australian Open and 2009 US Open. The players invited to compete in the Australian Open wild card playoffs include:
MEN (seeds-based on ATP rankings):
1. Jesse Levine (115)
2. Jesse Witten (167)
3. Donald Young (195)
4. Alex Kuznetsov (198)
5. Lester Cook (225)
6. Michael McClune (325)
7. Ryan Harrison (363)
8. Jack Sock (707)
WOMEN (seeds-based on WTA ranking):
1. Madison Brengle (167)
2. Alison Riske (217)
3. Christina McHale (230)
4. Julia Cohen (251)
5. CoCo Vandeweghe (323)
6. Asia Muhammed (379)
7. Ester Goldfield (590)
8. Julia Boserup (685)
John Isner and Christina McHale earned wild card berths into the 2009 Australian Open men’s and women’s singles main draw events last December at the USTA’s wild card playoffs, which were held at the USTA Training Center Headquarters in Boca Raton, Fla.
In addition to the wild card playoffs, the Infinite Energy Atlanta Challenge will also feature an exhibition on Friday, December 4, featuring 7-time Grand Slam doubles champions Bob and Mike Bryan, Mardy Fish, John Isner and Melanie Oudin.
For tickets and more information, go to www.tandsevents.com.