TournamenT noTes as of april 25, 2014 USTA TALLAHASSEE TENNIS CHALLENGER TALLAHASSEE, FL • APRIL 26-MAY 3 USTA PRO CIRCUIT RETURNS TO TALLAHASSEE AS LAST EVENT OF THE HAR-TRU USTA PRO CIRCUIT WILD CARD CHALLENGE The USTA Tallahassee Tennis Challenger is taking place for the 22nd consecutive year— making it one of the longest-running USTA Pro TournamenT informaTion Circuit events. Tallahassee is one of 14 USTA Site: Forest Meadows Tennis Center – Tallahassee, Fla. Pro Circuit men’s events held in Florida. Anthony Behar Websites: www.tallahasseechallenger.com Tallahassee is also the last of three consecutive procircuit.usta.com men’s clay-court tournaments (joining a Facebook: USTA Tallahassee Challenger $100,000 event in Sarasota, Fla., held the week of April 14, and a $50,000 event in Twitter: @Tally Challenger Savannah, Ga., held the week of April 21) Wild Card Challenge Twitter: #USTAHarTruWC that are part of the Har-Tru USTA Pro Circuit Wild Card Challenge, which will award a Qualifying Draw Begins: Saturday, April 26 men’s and a women’s wild card into the 2014 Main Draw Begins: Monday, April 28 French Open. Along with these three men’s tournaments, the women’s tournaments that Main Draw: 32 Singles / 16 Doubles are part of the challenge include the Dothan Surface: Clay / Outdoors Pro Classic in Dothan, Ala., held the week of Prize Money: $50,000 April 14; the Boyd Tinsley Clay Court Classic in Once the world’s No. 1 junior, Donald Young Charlottesville, Va., held the week of April 21; has ranked in the ATP World Tour Top 40 and Tournament Director: and the Audi Melbourne Pro Tennis Classic in has represented the United States both in the Karen Vogter, (850) 545-8740 Indian Harbour Beach, Fla., held the week of Olympics and in Davis Cup. [email protected] April 28. Tournament Press Contact: agreement in which wild cards into the 2014 Nick McCarvel, (406) 438-2649, [email protected] The American man and American woman who earn the most ATP and WTA ranking points at French Open and US Open are exchanged. USTA Public Relations Contacts: two of three USTA Pro Circuit clay-court events Amanda Korba, (914) 697-2219, [email protected] will receive USTA wild cards to compete in This tournament will be streamed live on www. their respective main draws at the French procircuit.usta.com. Prize money / PoinTs Open, which runs Sunday, May 25, through SINGLES: Prize Money Ranking Points Sunday, June 8. U.S. players who do not Notable players competing in the main draw Winner $7,200 80 receive direct entry into the French Open are include: Runner-up $4,240 48 eligible for the wild cards. The USTA and the Semifinalist $2,510 29 French Tennis Federation have a reciprocal 2011 Tallahassee singles champion and 2009 Quarterfinalist $1,460 15 singles runner-up Donald Young, who made Round of 16 $860 7 his Davis Cup debut this year in the World Round of 32 $520 -- Group quarterfinal tie against Great Britain USTA DOUBLES: Prize Money (per team) in San Diego and also advanced to the third Winner $3,100 round of the Australian Open. Young broke Runner-up $1,800 into the world’s Top 40 in February 2012 and Semifinalist $1,080 qualified for the 2012 U.S. Olympic team. Quarterfinalist $640 He competed in all four Grand Slam events Round of 16 $360 that year, reaching the second round of the Australian Open. In 2011, he reached the CommuniTy eVenTs round of 16 at the US Open, upsetting two Monday, April 28 – Boys & Girls Club/ Top 30 players en route, for his best Grand Boys Town Tennis Jamboree, 4:30 p.m. Slam tournament result. Also that year, he Tuesday, April 29 – Elementary School 10 and Under Tennis Clinics, 10:00 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. Tournament wild card Daniel Kosakowski was Wednesday, April 30 – Elementary School 10 and the first-week leader in this year’s Har-Tru USTA Under Tennis Clinics, 10:00 a.m. and 11:30 a.m.; Pro Circuit Wild Card Challenge. He competed for Community Center Tennis Spectacular, 4:30 p.m. one season at UCLA, playing in the No. 1 singles position for the Bruins and earning 2011 Pac-10 Thursday, May 1 Freshman of the Year honors. Free USPTA Clinic, 11:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. Friday, May 2 *Player field subject to change Special Olympics Tennis Carnival, 10:00 a.m. TournamenT noTes reached the final of the ATP World Tour event in Bangkok and the tournament main draw debut—and, in the process, became one of just semifinals of the Emirates Airline US Open Series event in Washington, 13 qualifying wild cards in US Open recorded history to reach the main D.C. In April 2013, Young won an ATP Challenger in Leon, Mexico, for draw. At the 2012 US Open, he faced Andy Roddick prior to Roddick’s his first title since 2011, and he qualified for and reached the second retirement announcement. In addition, Williams earned a wild card into round of the 2013 US Open. He then won the $50,000 USTA Pro the 2013 Australian Open main draw by winning the USTA Australian Circuit Challenger in Napa, Calif., in September 2013, immediately Open Wild Card Playoffs, and he qualified for the 2013 French Open. followed by a title at the $100,000 USTA Pro Circuit Challenger in Also last year, he reached the semifinals at the ATP clay-court event in Sacramento, Calif.—the sixth and seventh Challenger titles of his career Houston for his best ATP result. Williams turned pro in 2011 following on the USTA Pro Circuit. A standout junior player, Young was a two- his sophomore year at the University of Tennessee, where he reached time Grand Slam tournament champion (2005 Australian Open, 2007 the singles final at the 2011 NCAA Championships. He comes from a Wimbledon) and, at age 16 years, 5 months, became the youngest year- tennis family. His grandfather is Mike DePalmer Sr., a co-founder of the end world junior No. 1 in 2005. Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy, and his mother, Michelle DePalmer- Williams, is a former pro and Orange Bowl 16s champion. Williams Tournament wild card Daniel Kosakowski, who was the first-week leader trains at the USTA Player Development’s Training Center Headquarters in the Har-Tru USTA Pro Circuit Wild Card Challenge after reaching the in Boca Raton, Fla., and is coached by his cousin, Christopher Williams. semifinals of the $100,000 event in Sarasota. Kosakowski competed for one season at UCLA, playing in the No. 1 singles position for 2008 Tallahassee singles champion and two-time doubles champion the Bruins and earning 2011 Pac-10 Freshman of the Year honors. Bobby Reynolds, an ATP World Tour veteran who holds the record Kosakowski turned professional that same year and made a splash for most career singles and doubles titles on the USTA Pro Circuit, in his first full season as a pro in 2012, reaching the final round of capturing his 31st USTA Pro Circuit crown by winning the doubles qualifying at the US Open and winning back-to-back USTA Pro Circuit championship at the $50,000 Challenger in Napa, Calif., in September Futures events in California after the US Open. Behind those victories, 2013. Reynolds ascended to a career-best ranking of No. 63 in 2009 he cracked the Top 250 for the first time after starting 2012 ranked before suffering a wrist injury that sidelined him for seven months. outside the Top 400. Kosakowski spent the majority of 2013 competing He has reached the second round or better at all four Grand Slam overseas at ITF Pro Circuit events in South America and Asia. This year, tournaments in his career. In 2008, Reynolds posted his best Grand he advanced to the final round of qualifying at the Australian Open and Slam result by reaching the third round at Wimbledon. He also qualified won his fourth USTA Pro Circuit event at the $15,000 tournament in for Wimbledon and won his opening-round match in 2013 for his first Bakersfield, Calif. Kosakowski comes from a tennis-playing family; his Grand Slam singles win since 2008. He won his only ATP doubles brother and two sisters all played or are currently playing college tennis. title in 2006 in Indianapolis with Andy Roddick. Reynolds played at Vanderbilt University for three seasons, 2000-03, under coach and 2012 singles champion Tim Smyczek, who broke into the Top 100 former ATP doubles star Ken Flach, before turning pro after his junior in 2013 after advancing to the third round of the US Open, where year. He finished at No. 1 in the ITA collegiate rankings in 2003, the he lost a tight five-setter to then-No. 43 Marcel Granollers. The US same year he led Vanderbilt to the NCAA final. Open highlighted the strongest summer of Smyczek’s career; he also advanced to the second round of the Emirates Airline US Open Series Michael Russell, who is the men’s all-time leader in USTA Pro Circuit events in Washington, D.C., and Winston-Salem, N.C., and qualified for singles titles with 24, winning his most recent title at the end of 2013 Atlanta. Also in 2013, the 5-foot-9 Smyczek advanced to the second at the $75,000 Challenger in Charlottesville, Va. With his victory in round of the Australian Open, defeating 6-foot-11 Ivo Karlovic in the Charlottesville, Russell became the oldest USTA Pro Circuit singles opening round.