TournamenT noTes as of march 28, 2012 USTA TALLAHASSEE TENNIS CHALLENGER TALLAHASSEE, FL • MARCH 31-APRIL 7 USTA PRO CIRCUIT CELEBRATES 20TH ANNIVERSARY IN TALLAHASSEE TournamenT InFormaTIon The USTA Tallahassee Tennis Challenger will be celebrating its 20th anniversary Site: Forestmeadows Tennis Center in 2012. It is the third Challenger of the Tallahassee, Fla. 2012 season and is one of two USTA Pro Getty Images Circuit Challengers held in Florida this year. Websites: www.tallahasseechallenger.com (Sarasota will host a clay court event two procircuit.usta.com weeks after Tallahassee.) Overall, there are Facebook: USTA Tallahassee Tennis Challenger 12 USTA Pro Circuit men’s events (Futures and Challengers combined) taking place in Twitter: @TallyChallenger Florida, the most of any state. As part of Qualifying Draw Begins: Saturday, March 31 its anniversary celebration, the Tallahassee Main Draw Begins: Monday, April 2 Challenger will hold a ceremony on Saturday, April 7, at noon, during which the tournament Main Draw: 32 Singles / 16 Doubles will be recognized by the USTA and receive Surface: Hard / Outdoor an honorary plaque. 2008 Tallahassee singles champion Bobby Reynolds has won 29 combined USTA Pro Prize Money: $50,000 The tournament will also hold 10 and Circuit singles and doubles titles. Tournament Director: Under Tennis clinics Tuesday, April 3, and Wednesday, April 4. 10 and Under Tennis is Karen Vogter, (850) 545-8740 Tallahassee finalist and former world No. 77 [email protected] a national initiative created to develop young players. It uses right-sized equipment and Wayne Odesnik, who returned to competition Tournament Press Contact: smaller courts to better allow kids to rally in 2011 following a year-long suspension as McCarton Ackerman, (917) 817-7186 and play the game. On January 1, the rules dictated by the Tennis Anti-Doping Program, [email protected] of tennis officially changed in the United which is administered by the International Tennis Federation (ITF), and won $50,000 USTA Communications Contacts: States to require that all USTA-sanctioned events for kids 10 and under be played Challengers in Lexington, Ky., and Savannah, Amanda Korba, (914) 697-2219, [email protected] Ga.; and Jesse Levine, who won a USTA Eric Schuster, (914) 696-7260, [email protected] utilizing some combination of the smaller, lighter racquets, slower-moving and lower- playoff to earn a wild card into the main draw PrIze money / PoInTs bouncing balls, and smaller courts utilized by of the 2012 Australian Open and captured the 10 and Under Tennis. $100,000 Challenger in Dallas this February. SINGLES: Prize Money Ranking Points In 2009, he upset Marat Safin en route to the Winner $7,200 80 third round of Wimbledon. Runner-up $4,240 48 This year’s Tallahassee Challenger field includes: 2008 Tallahassee singles and two- Semifinalist $2,510 29 Also in the main draw are: Michael Russell, Quarterfinalist $1,460 15 time doubles champion Bobby Reynolds, who ascended to a career-best No. 63 in 2009, the men’s all-time leader in USTA Pro Round of 16 $860 7 Circuit singles titles with 22; Michael Yani, Round of 32 $520 - shortly before suffering a wrist injury that cost him seven months, and who has reached the who reached the semifinals at the ATP DOUBLES: Prize Money (per team) second round or better at all four Grand Slam World Tour grass-court event in Newport, Winner $3,100 events while winning 29 combined USTA R.I., as a qualifier in spring 2011, and who Runner-up $1,800 Pro Circuit singles and doubles titles; 2011 successfully qualified for the main draw Semifinalist $1,080 of the 2011 US Open; former University Quarterfinalist $640 of Illinois standout and 2008 Tallahassee Round of 16 $360 doubles champion Rajeev Ram, who has USTA captured six ATP World Tour doubles titles CommunITy eVenTs and 22 USTA Pro Circuit doubles titles, and Sunday, April 1 – Pro-Am to benefit who reached the doubles quarterfinals of Sharon E. Walker Breast Health Center, 4 p.m. the 2012 Australian Open; Tim Smyczek, who won two USTA wild card playoffs to Monday, April 2 – Boys & Girls Club/ Boys Town Tennis Jamboree, 4:30-5:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 3/Wednesday, April 4 Jesse Levine won a USTA playoff to earn a USPTA Clinics, 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. wild card into the main draw of the 2012 Friday, April 6 – Special Olympics Tennis Carnival Australian Open. 10-11:30 a.m. Saturday, April 7 – Ceremony and Anniversary *Player field subject to change Celebration, 12 noon TournamenT noTes earn wild cards into the 2010 US Open and 2011 French Open, Also expected in qualifying are: 2009 NCAA men’s singles champion and who regularly trains at Saddlebrook Resort in Tampa, Fla., with Devin Britton, who reached the boys’ singles final at the 2008 fellow Americans James Blake, Mardy Fish and John Isner; and Alex US Open; Daniel Kosakowski, who won his first professional title Kuznetsov, who qualified for the 2012 Australian Open main draw in 2011 at a Futures in Sacramento, Calif., turned professional and faced Rafael Nadal in the first round, and who won the $50,000 following his freshman year at UCLA and reached the final of the Challenger in Champaign, Ill., to end 2011. $15,000 USTA Pro Circuit event in Calabasas, Calif., in mid-March; and Robert Kendrick, who returns to tennis this year following an International standouts in the main draw are: Benjamin Becker of eight-month suspension as dictated by the Tennis Anti-Doping Germany, a former Baylor University All-American who defeated Andre Program, which is administered by the ITF. Kendrick has competed Agassi in Agassi’s last professional match at the 2006 US Open, and in all four Grand Slam events and has won 24 career USTA Pro who peaked at a No. 38 in the world in 2007; and current world Circuit titles (12 singles, 12 doubles). No. 59 Yen-Hsun Lu of Taiwan, who in 2010 finished the year as the top Asian player on the ATP World Tour with his first year-end Top 50 Many current pros have found success in Tallahassee. 2006 ranking, and who last year defeated Andy Roddick in the round of 16 champion Mardy Fish had a career-best year in 2011, winning the at Wimbledon. Emirates Airline US Open Series title and becoming the top-ranked American on the ATP World Tour. He is currently ranked No. 8 in the Among the players expected in qualifying are: Steve Johnson, the 2011 world, has won six career ATP singles titles and represents the U.S. NCAA singles champion for USC, who won back-to-back USTA Pro in Davis Cup. 2009 champion John Isner recently cracked the ATP Circuit Futures titles following the 2011 US Open, where he lost in five World Tour Top 10 for the first time after defeating world No. 1 Novak sets in the first round to Alex Bogomolov Jr.;Brian Baker, who has won Djokovic en route to the singles final in Indian Wells, Calif. Isner also two USTA Pro Circuit Futures titles this year, including the $15,000 upset 16-time Grand Slam tournament singles champion and world Futures in Costa Mesa, Calif., two weeks ago, after recovering from elbow No. 3 Roger Federer during the Davis Cup first round tie on clay in surgery (Tommy John) that cost him three years; and Blake Strode, a Switzerland in February. 2007 Tallahassee champion Jo-Wilfried former All-American for the University of Arkansas who won the US Open Tsonga is a mainstay in the ATP World Tour Top 10 and reached the National Playoffs in 2010 and 2011 to earn wild cards into the US Open semifinals at Wimbledon and the quarterfinals of the US Open in Qualifying Tournament. Strode deferred Harvard Law School to play pro 2011. Donald Young won the 2011 Tallahassee title en route to a tennis and captured two USTA Pro Circuit titles a year ago. career-best year that saw him reach the fourth round of the US Open and his first ATP World Tour final in Bangkok, Thailand. *Player field subject to change TALLAHASSEE PAST WINNERS Singles Doubles Year Winner Runner-Up Year Winner 2011 Donald Young (USA) Wayne Odesnik (USA) 2011 Vasek Pospisil (CAN) / Bobby Reynolds (USA) 2010 Brian Dabul (ARG) Robby Ginepri (USA) 2010 Joseph Sirianni (AUS) / Stephen Huss (AUS) 2009 John Isner (USA) Donald Young (USA) 2009 Eric Butorac (USA) / Scott Lipsky (USA) 2008 Bobby Reynolds (USA) Robert Kendrick (USA) 2008 Rajeev Ram (USA) / Bobby Reynolds (USA) 2007 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA) Rik De Voest (RSA) 2007 Izak Van Der Merwe (RSA) / Wesley Whitehouse (RSA) 2006 Mardy Fish (USA) Zack Fleishman (USA) 2006 Rik De Voest (RSA) / Glenn Weiner (USA) 2005 Brian Vahaly (USA) Justin Gimelstob (USA) 2005 Robert Lindstedt (SWE) / Alexander Peya (AUT) 2004 Cecil Mamiit (PHI) Bjorn Rehnquist (SWE) 2004 Matias Boeker (USA) / Noam Okun (ISR) 2003 Paul Goldstein (USA) Alex Kim (USA) 2003 Cancelled due to rain 2002 Brian Vahaly (USA) Justin Gimelstob (USA) 2002 Levar Harper-Griffith (USA) / Jeff Williams (USA) 2001 Ramon Delgado (PAR) Justin Gimelstob (USA) 2001 Matthew Breen (AUS) / Lee Pearson (AUS) 2000 Jeff Salzenstein (USA) Kevin Kim (USA) 2000 Mark Knowles (BAH) / Mark Merklein (BAH) 1999 Bobby Kokavec (CAN) Horst Skoff (AUT) 1999 Rob Givone (USA) / Glenn Weiner (USA) 1998 Cecil Mamiit (PHI) Egberto Caldas (BRA) 1998 Cecil Mamiit (PHI) / Kyle Spenser (GBR) 1997 David Witt (USA) Chris Groer (USA) 1997 Chris Groer (USA) / Ali Hamadeh (LIB) 1996 Sule Ladipo (NGR) Oliver Johl (GER) 1996 Tommy Shimada (JPN) / Ryuso Tsujino (JPN) 1995 Ivan Baron (USA) Andrew Sznajder (CAN) 1995 David Blair (USA) / Mike Chinchiolo (USA) 1994 Ivan Baron (USA) David DiLucia (USA) 1994 Johan Donar (SWE) / Nils Holm (SWE) 1993 Patricio Arnold (ARG) Ty Tucker (USA) 1993 Patricio Arnold (ARG) / Ty Tucker (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.