TournamenT noTes as of June 27, 2012 NIELSEN PRO TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIP WINNETKA, IL • JULY 1-7 USTA PRO CIRCUIT RETURNS TO WINNETKA TournamenT InFormaTIon The Nielsen Pro Tennis Championship returns to Winnetka for the seventh consecutive Site: A.C. Nielsen Tennis Center – Winnetka, Ill. year and the 21st year overall. It is the sixth Challenger on the 2012 USTA Pro Circuit Websites: www.nielsenprotennis.com Melina Vastola calendar and is one of five USTA Pro Circuit procircuit.usta.com men’s events held in Illinois. (Champaign Facebook: Nielsen Pro Tennis hosts a $50,000 Challenger in November, and three $10,000 Futures are held later Twitter: @NielsenPro this summer.) It is also the first hard-court Qualifying Draw Begins: Sunday, July 1 Challenger of the summer season. Main Draw Begins: Monday, July 2 This year’s Winnetka Challenger field includes Main Draw: 32 Singles / 16 Doubles Brian Baker, who earned a USTA wild card into the French Open after capturing the Surface: Hard / Outdoor $50,000 Challenger in Savannah, Ga., and Brian Baker climbed to the Top 125 in the Prize Money: $50,000 subsequently reached his first ATP World Tour world this year by earning a wild card into the final at the French Open tune-up event in French Open and qualifying for Wimbledon, Tournament Director: Nice, France. He won his first-round match at advancing at least to the second round of both. Linda Goodman, (312) 505-7969 the French Open, and has since qualified for [email protected] Wimbledon, where he also won his first-round match. Baker returned to pro tennis in 2011 Tournament Press Contact: at all four Grand Slam events and has won after undergoing five surgeries for a series Mary Sandberg, (312) 493-6509 30 combined USTA Pro Circuit singles and of ailments from 2005 to 2008, including [email protected] doubles titles, which equals the all-time Tommy John elbow ligament replacement men’s record; and Ryan Sweeting, who in USTA Communications Contacts: surgery in February 2008. 2011 won his first career ATP World Tour Amanda Korba, (914) 697-2219, [email protected] title at the clay-court event in Houston and Eric Schuster, (914) 696-7260, [email protected] Other notable Americans in the main draw this season qualified for the main draw of are: Jesse Levine, who won a USTA playoff Wimbledon. PrIze money / PoInTs to earn a wild card into the main draw of the 2012 Australian Open and has advanced to SINGLES: Prize Money Ranking Points Also in the main draw are: two-time Winnetka the second round of Wimbledon as a qualifier Winner $7,200 80 runner-up Tim Smyczek, who won his (as of June 27); 2011 Winnetka singles Runner-up $4,240 48 first USTA Pro Circuit Challenger title in runner-up and doubles champion Semifinalist $2,510 29 Bobby Tallahassee, Fla., earlier this year, and who , who ascended to a career-best Quarterfinalist $1,460 15 Reynolds won USTA playoffs to earn wild cards into No. 63 in 2009, shortly before suffering a Round of 16 $860 7 the 2010 US Open and 2011 French Open, wrist injury that cost him seven months, and Round of 32 $520 - respectively; 2008 Winnetka champion who has reached the second round or better DOUBLES: Prize Money (per team) Rajeev Ram, who reached the doubles Winner $3,100 quarterfinals at Roland Garros in June; and Runner-up $1,800 2009 Winnetka champion Alex Kuznetsov, USTA Semifinalist $1,080 who qualified for the 2012 Australian Open Quarterfinalist $640 to make his first appearance in a Grand Slam Round of 16 $360 main draw since 2007, facing Rafael Nadal in the first round. CommunITy eVenTs Monday, July 2 Among the players set to compete in Pro-Am, 3:30 p.m. qualifying are: former University of Tennessee teammates Rhyne Williams, an All-American Thursday, July 5 Fast Serve Competition, 1:00-3:00 p.m. Jesse Levine won a USTA playoff to earn a wild card into the main draw of the 2012 Australian Open and has so far advanced to the second round of Wimbledon as a qualifier. *Player field subject to change TournamenT noTes who has won two USTA Pro Circuit titles in his career, and Tennys USTA Pro Circuit Futures in Sacremento, Calif., in June. Sandgren, likewise an All-American, who has captured three USTA Pro Circuit titles this year; 2010 US Open boys’ champion and 2011 Many current and former ATP World Tour stars have found success in US Open mixed doubles champion Jack Sock, who in 2011 also Winnetka. Defending singles champion and 1999 doubles champion became the first USTA Boys’ 18s champion since 1995 to win a main James Blake peaked at No. 4 in the world in 2006 soon after he draw men’s singles match at the US Open; and Blake Strode, who has reached the quarterfinals of the US Open and has won 10 career won consecutive titles in the US Open National Playoffs to twice earn singles titles. Blake also was a longtime member of the U.S. Davis wild cards into the US Open Qualifying Tournament, having deferred Cup team, helping lead the United States to the Davis Cup title admission into Harvard Law School in order to pursue a professional in 2007. Sam Querrey, the 2006 Winnetka singles champion, is tennis career. currently ranked No. 64 and won four ATP World Tour singles crowns in 2010, including a title on every surface. He also represented the Also in qualifying are: Jeff Dadamo, who captured the 2011 NCAA United States in Davis Cup and peaked at No. 17 in the world in men’s doubles title as a senior at Texas A&M; and Devin Britton, January 2011 before undergoing elbow surgery. Todd Martin, the who won the 2009 NCAA men’s singles crown as a freshman for the singles runner-up in Winnetka in 1989 and 1991, went on to reach University of Mississippi, and who reached the boys’ singles final the final of the 1999 US Open and 1994 Australian Open, rank at the 2008 US Open. Britton won the singles title at the $15,000 No. 4 in the world and win eight career ATP singles titles. *Player field subject to change WINNETKA PAST WINNERS Singles Doubles Year Winner Runner-Up Year Winner 2011 James Blake (USA) Bobby Reynolds (USA) 2011 Treat Conrad Huey (PHI) – Bobby Reynolds (USA) 2010 Brian Dabul (ARG) Tim Smyczek (USA) 2010 Ryler DeHeart (USA) – Pierre-Ludovic Duclos (CAN) 2009 Alex Kuznetsov (USA) Tim Smyczek (USA) 2009 Carsten Ball (AUS) – Travis Rettenmaier (USA) 2008 Rajeev Ram (USA) Scoville Jenkins (USA) 2008 Todd Widom (USA) – Michael Yani (USA) 2007 Noam Okun (ISR) Kevin Anderson (RSA) 2007 Patrick Briaud (USA) – Chris Drake (USA) 2006 Sam Querrey (USA) Andrea Stoppini (ITA) 2006 Cecil Mamiit (PHI) – Eric Taino (USA) 2001-2005 Tournament not held Tournament not held 2001-2005 Tournament not held 2000 Takao Suzuki (JPN) Yong-Il Yoon (KOR) 2000 Hyung-Taik Lee (KOR) – Yong-Il Yoon (KOR) 1999 Alex O’Brien (USA) Max Mirnyi (BLR) 1999 James Blake (USA) – Thomas Blake (USA) 1998 Geoff Grant (USA) Diego Nargiso (ITA) 1998 Grant Silcock (AUS) – Myles Wakefield (RSA) 1997 Gianluca Pozzi (ITA) Wayne Black (ZIM) 1997 Michael Sell (USA) – Myles Wakefield (RSA) 1994 Vince Spadea (USA) Cristiano Caratti (ITA) 1994 Brian MacPhie (USA) – David Witt (USA) 1993 Kevin Ullyett (ZIM) Maurice Ruah (VEN) 1993 Wayne Arthurs (AUS) – Mark Petchey (GBR) 1992 Chuck Adams (USA) Steve Bryan (USA) 1992 Andrew Kratzmann (AUS) – Roger Rasheed (AUS) 1991 Byron Black (ZIM) Todd Martin (USA) 1991 Bryon Black (ZIM) – Scott Melville (USA) 1990 Cristiano Caratti (ITA) Chris Garner (USA) 1990 Zeeshan Ali (IND) – Menno Oosting (NED) 1989 Brian Garrow (USA) Todd Martin (USA) 1989 Ville Jansson (SWE) – Scott Warner (USA) 1988 Jeff Tarango (USA) Gianluca Pozzi (ITA) 1988 Recardo Acuna (CHI) – Royce Deppe (RSA) 1987 Simon Youl (AUS) Roberto Saad (ARG) 1987 Tobias Svantesson (SWE) – John Treml (USA) 1985 Barry Moir (RSA) Harold Solomon (USA) 1985 Ricky Brown (USA) – Luke Jensen (USA) 1984 Marc Flur (USA) Mike Leach (USA) 1984 Dan Goldie (USA) – Michael Kures (USA) TournamenT noTes USTA PRO CIRCUIT 10 AND UNDER TENNIS With approximately 90 tournaments hosted annually throughout the country and prize money ranging from On January 1, the USTA announced that the rules of tennis $10,000 to $100,000, the USTA Pro Circuit is the pathway to the US Open and tour-level competition for have officially changed and require that 10 and Under Tennis aspiring tennis players and a frequent battleground for established professionals. The USTA launched its tournaments be played utilizing smaller, lighter racquets Pro Circuit 33 years ago to provide players with the opportunity to gain professional ranking points, and it and lower-bouncing balls on smaller courts. This rule change has since grown to become the largest developmental tennis circuit in the world, offering nearly $3 million signifies the emergence of 10 and Under Tennis as an integral in prize money. Last year, more than 1,000 men and women from more than 70 countries competed in cities part of the development of young players. The scaled-down nationwide. Mardy Fish, Maria Sharapova, Andy Roddick, Caroline Wozniacki, James Blake, Li Na and equipment and smaller courts better allow kids to rally and Andy Murray are among today’s top stars who began their careers on the USTA Pro Circuit. play the game earlier in their development, and increase the likelihood they will return to the court and continue to More recently, the USTA Pro Circuit improve while having fun doing so.