WHITE PLAINS, N.Y., November 11, 2009 -- The USTA announced today that Atlanta’s
Donald Young and U.S. Fed Cup team member
Alexa Glatch are among the initial 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 an exhibition match 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.
“Our wild card playoffs support our philosophy of giving players a chance to earn opportunities to compete at the highest level and allows our top emerging players to challenge each other,” said Patrick McEnroe, General Manager, USTA Player Development. “This year we partnered with T&S Events to create an event that allows tennis fans to watch these talented players battle for a berth into the Australian Open.”
Five men have been offered a spot in the event: Ryan Harrison (Bradenton, Fla.), Jesse Levine (Boca Raton, Fla.), Wayne Odesnik (Weston, Fla.), Rajeev Ram (Carmel, Ind.) and Young (Atlanta).
The six women invited to compete are: Madison Brengle (Dover, Del.), Glatch (Newport Beach, Calif.), Christina McHale (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.), Asia Muhammad (Henderson, Nev.), Alison Riske (McMurray, Pa.) and Coco Vandeweghe (Rancho Santa Fe, Calif.).
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 and John Isner.
The final field for the wild card playoffs will be determined in the next few weeks.
For tickets and more information, go to www.tandsevents.com.