TOURNAMENT NOTES
TOURNAMENT NOTES as of January 14, 2016
SADDLEBROOK USTA PRO CIRCUIT WOMEN’S 25K WESLEY CHAPEL, FL • JANUARY 17-24
The Saddlebrook USTA Pro Circuit Women’s 25K makes its debut in Wesley Chapel. The city also hosted a men’s event in 2008 It is the second USTA Pro Circuit women’s event of 2016 and the second of three consecutive $25,000 clay-court women’s events to kick off the season, all of which will be held in Florida. In conjunction with USTA Player Development, the USTA Pro Circuit continues to emphasize the importance of increased training on clay for younger players.
Site: Saddlebrook Resort Wesley Chapel, Fla. Websites: www.procircuit.usta.com Qualifying Draw Begins: Sunday, Jan. 17 Main Draw Begins: Tuesday, Jan. 19 Main Draw: 32 Singles / 16 Doubles Surface: Clay / Outdoor
To follow the tournament, download the USTA Pro Circuit’s new phone app for smartphones and tablets by searching “procircuit” in the Apple and Google Play stores.
Prize Money: $25,000 Tournament Director: Sean McQuillan, (616) 901-3775 [email protected]
Notable players competing in Wesley Chapel include:
Tournament Press Contact: Robert Riehle, (813) 629-1070 [email protected]
Top seed Shelby Rogers, who qualified for the 2015 US Open and advanced to the third round—her career-best Grand Slam result. Rogers peaked at No. 70 in the world in September 2014 after reaching her first WTA singles final in Bad Gastein, Austria, while also reaching the semifinals in Quebec City and the quarterfinals at the Emirates Airline US Open Series event in Montreal, where she upset then-Top 10 player Eugenie Bouchard. Rogers competed in her first Australian Open and Wimbledon main draws in 2015, in addition to competing in the French Open
USTA Communications Contact: Amanda Korba, (914) 697-2219, [email protected]
PRIZE MONEY / POINTS
DOUBLES: Prize Money (per team) Winner $1,437 Runner-Up $719 Semifinalist $359 Quarterfinalist $196 Round 16 $131
Tim Hartis
SINGLES: Prize Money Ranking Points Winner $3,919 50 Runner-Up $2,091 30 Semifinalist $1,144 18 Quarterfinalist $654 9 Round 16 $392 5 Round 32 $228 1
Steven Ryan
USTA PRO CIRCUIT DEBUTS IN WESLEY CHAPEL
TOURNAMENT INFORMATION
Shelby Rogers qualified for the 2015 US Open and advanced to the third round. She peaked at No. 70 in the world in September 2014 after reaching her first WTA singles final in Austria.
for the third time. She also won the doubles title at the $50,000 grass-court event in Eastbourne, Great Britain, in June 2015 with CoCo Vandeweghe. In 2013, Rogers earned a wild card into the French Open by winning the Har-Tru USTA Pro Circuit Wild Card Challenge—she reached the second round at Roland Garros—and secured a wild card into the 2013 US Open by winning the USTA Pro Circuit’s US Open Wild Card Challenge. In her career, Rogers has won four USTA Pro Circuit singles titles and one doubles title. As a junior player, she won the USTA Girls’ 18s National Championships to earn a wild card into the main draw of the 2010 US Open for her first appearance in a Grand Slam (in either the main draw or juniors). Sixteen-year-old CiCi Bellis, who made international headlines at the 2014 US Open with her first-round upset of No. 12 seed and reigning Australian Open finalist Dominika Cibulkova. With the victory, Bellis, then 15, became the youngest female player to win a main-draw match at the US Open since Anna Kournikova in 1996. Bellis earned a wild card into the US Open main draw as the USTA Girls’ 18s national champion; she was the youngest USTA Girls’ 18s national champion since Lindsay Davenport in 1991. Following the 2014 US Open, Bellis won the first USTA Teenager CiCi Bellis made international headlines at the 2014 US Open with her first-round upset of No. 12 seed Dominika Cibulkova.
*Player field subject to change
TOURNAMENT NOTES Pro Circuit singles titles of her career at $25,000 events in Rock Hill, S.C., and Florence, S.C. She added a third singles title in 2015 at the $25,000 event in Rancho Santa Fe, Calif. Also in 2015, Bellis reached the third round of the WTA event in Miami as a wild card before losing to Serena Williams. She peaked at No. 152 in the world in July 2015. In the junior ranks, Bellis clinched the ITF’s year-end No. 1 world ranking in December 2014, becoming the second American girl in the last three years to earn the ITF’s year-end top junior ranking for players ages 18 and under (joining Taylor Townsend, 2012). Also in December, Bellis reached the singles semifinals and won the doubles title at the Metropolia Orange Bowl International Championships in Plantation, Fla. In addition, she led the U.S. to the 2014 Junior Fed Cup title in Mexico, helping the American squad win the 16-and-under world team title for the third time in seven years (2008, 2012, 2014). Katerina Stewart, who had a strong season on the USTA Pro Circuit in 2015, winning three singles titles and going 13-2 in the spring in a string of $50,000 clay-court events, where she won in Indian Harbour Beach, Fla., and reached finals in Charlottesville, Va., and Savannah, Ga. Stewart peaked at a career-high No. 158 in the world in July. In 2014, she won the USTA Girls’ 18s National Clay Court Championships in Memphis. That capped a 34-match winning streak in junior and pro matches, during which she won three USTA Pro Circuit $10,000 clay-court events (Orlando, Fla.; Bethany Beach, Del.; and Charlotte, N.C.). Stewart was awarded a wild card into qualifying at the 2014 US Open and won her first-round qualifying match over Yuliya Beygelizimer, a former Top 100 player. She also played in the doubles main draw in New York that year with Louisa Chirico, falling in the first round. An accomplished player on all surfaces, Stewart was the USTA Girls’ 16s national hard court champion in 2013. Her mother, Marina, was an Argentine WTA pro. She is coached by her father, Cesar. Grace Min, the former US Open junior champion who peaked at a career-high No. 97 in the world in March 2015 after reaching the second round of the WTA’s Rio Open and competing in Indian Wells. In 2014, Min reached the semifinals of the WTA event in Bad Gastein, Austria—her first-ever WTA semifinal—and competed in the US Open and French Open main draws, qualifying at Roland Garros. Min was one of the top juniors in the world in 2011, when she won the US Open girls’ singles title and the Wimbledon girls’ doubles title. Those results helped propel her to No. 4 in the world junior rankings. In 2013, she qualified for the French Open—her first main-draw Grand Slam appearance outside the U.S.—as well as the US Open. She holds six USTA Pro Circuit singles titles overall, including the $25,000 event in Florence, S.C., in October 2015. Kristie Ahn, who graduated from Stanford in 2014 as a four-time AllAmerican. Ahn went 97-17 in four seasons at Stanford and was named the 2014 ITA National Senior Player of the Year. She qualified for the 2008 US Open, where she lost to former world No. 1 Dinara Safina in the first round. Ahn has also won five USTA Pro Circuit/ITF-level singles titles, including two titles in Korea and Canada in 2015, and one doubles title in 2010. Asia Muhammad, who learned to play tennis at the Andre Agassi Boys and Girls Club in Las Vegas. Muhammad is currently ranked in the Top 100 (at No. 84) in doubles after winning her first WTA doubles title in the Netherlands in June 2015, as well as four ITF-level doubles titles last year. In 2013, she captured her first singles title since 2007 at the $25,000 event in Raleigh, N.C. And in 2014, she won backto-back doubles titles at the $50,000 USTA Pro Circuit events in Charlottesville, Va., and Indian Harbour Beach, Fla.; she also won the US Open National Playoffs USTA Missouri Valley Sectional Qualifying
Tournament in summer 2014. Overall, Muhammad holds 18 career USTA Pro Circuit titles (15 doubles, three singles). Notable players competing in qualifying include: Former world No. 7 Nicole Vaidisova, who retired from pro tennis in 2010 before launching her comeback on the USTA Pro Circuit in fall 2014, where she reached the quarterfinals of the $50,000 USTA Pro Circuit event in Las Vegas in just her second tournament back. In her career, Vaidisova has won six WTA singles titles and reached the semifinals of the 2007 Australian Open and the 2006 French Open, upsetting No. 1 seed Amelie Mauresmo in the fourth round and Venus Williams in the quarterfinals at Roland Garros. Vaidisova has also represented the Czech Republic in Fed Cup. In 2015, she continued to play on the USTA Pro Circuit and in ITF-level events, reaching the quarterfinals or better at three tournaments. Taylor Townsend, who was a top storyline at the 2014 French Open, where she made her Grand Slam main-draw debut and advanced to the third round. She competed in the French Open as a wild card after winning the 2014 Har-Tru USTA Pro Circuit Wild Card Challenge, taking the challenge with victories at two $50,000 USTA Pro Circuit clay-court events: Charlottesville, Va., and Indian Harbour Beach, Fla. Those were the first two USTA Pro Circuit titles of her career. Townsend went on to compete at Wimbledon and the US Open in 2014 and at the Australian Open and French Open in 2015. In 2015, she made her Fed Cup debut in the World Group II First Round in Argentina, where she played doubles, and also won a doubles title in Indian Harbour Beach. Townsend is a former junior standout, clinching the year-end ITF No. 1 junior ranking in 2012 to become the first American girl to hold that position since Gretchen Rush in 1982. She ascended to No. 1 by winning the Australian Open junior singles and doubles titles, as well as the junior doubles titles at the US Open and Wimbledon. Also in 2012, she led the U.S. to the Junior Fed Cup championship. Townsend turned pro at the start of 2013 and, in her first WTA-level main-draw match, beat then-No. 57 Lucie Hradecka in the first round of Indian Wells. After playing primarily pro events early that year, she returned to the junior ranks in 2013 and reached the girls’ singles final at Wimbledon. Robin Anderson, who graduated from UCLA in 2015 after earning AllAmerica honors in both singles and doubles for the fourth consecutive year, becoming the seventh player in school history to accomplish that feat. She was named the ITA National Collegiate Player of the Year for 2014-15. Anderson was part of UCLA’s NCAA-title winning team in 2014 and reached the NCAA doubles final in 2013. At the 2015 US Open, she won the American Collegiate Invitational, a tournament for the top U.S. college players. In her career, Anderson has won one USTA Pro Circuit singles title ($10,000 Landisville, Pa., in 2011) and one doubles title ($25,000 Redding, Calif., in 2013). As a junior player, she reached the singles quarterfinals at the 2010 junior US Open. Lauren Embree, who completed her outstanding college career at the University of Florida in 2013 by being named the National College Player of the Year. Embree went 26-3 in her final year for the Gators at the No. 1 singles spot, and she compiled a staggering 117-16 singles record during her four years in Gainesville. As a pro in 2013, she won her second USTA Pro Circuit singles title at the $10,000 event in Fort Worth, Texas, after also winning a title in Wichita, Kan., in 2008. In 2015, she captured her third and fourth USTA Pro Circuit/ITF-level doubles titles in Australia. In 2009, Embree won a USTA wild-card playoff to earn a berth into the main draw of the French Open, where she lost in the opening round to former world No. 3 Nadia Petrova.
*Player field subject to change
TOURNAMENT NOTES Jamie Loeb, who completed her sophomore year at the University of North Carolina in 2015, where she won the NCAA Division I singles title that year, becoming the first singles national champion in North Carolina women’s tennis history. Loeb was also the top-ranked college tennis player for most of her freshman year. As a freshman, she was named the 2014 Intercollegiate Tennis Association Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year, as well as the 2014 ACC Women’s Tennis Player of the Year—making her the third North Carolina player ever to earn that distinction. In 2014, Loeb won the inaugural American College Invitational at the US Open. Loeb has now turned pro and earned a wild card into the 2015 US Open, where she lost to 2014 US Open finalist Caroline Wozniacki in the first round. Loeb was also a standout junior player, reaching the quarterfinals at the Wimbledon girls’ event in 2013 and the junior singles final at the 2013 USTA International Spring Championships in Carson, Calif.; she also won the doubles title in Carson. Loeb holds four USTA Pro Circuit singles titles, including the $25,000 event in El Paso, Texas, in 2015, and five doubles titles. She trains at the John McEnroe Tennis Academy in Randall’s Island, N.Y.
Sofia Kenin, 17, who made her Grand Slam main-draw debut at the 2015 US Open and also reached the 2015 US Open junior singles final. Kenin earned a wild-card berth into the US Open women’s singles draw by virtue of her USTA Girls’ 18s national title. Kenin, who goes by “Sonya,” is the No. 8-ranked junior in the world and represented the U.S. at the 2014 Youth Olympic Games in China. She reached her first career USTA Pro Circuit final last year at the $10,000 event in Gainesville, Fla., where she also reached the doubles final. Brooke Austin, a sophomore at Florida, who earned singles and doubles All-America honors for the 2014-15 season and was the 2015 SEC Player of the Year and Freshman of the Year. Austin won the first USTA Pro Circuit singles title of her career at the $25,000 event in Sumter, S.C., in 2014. She also reached the final of the $25,000 event in Baton Rouge, La., in summer 2015 as a qualifier. She holds two USTA Pro Circuit doubles titles, as well. Austin is a former junior standout who won the 2012 USTA Girls’ 18s Spring National Championships and helped lead the U.S. to back-toback World Junior Tennis titles (14 and under) in 2009 and 2010.
*Player field subject to change
TOURNAMENT NOTES U S TA P R O C I R C U I T With approximately 90 tournaments hosted annually throughout the country and prize money ranging from $10,000 to $100,000, the USTA Pro Circuit is the pathway to the US Open and tour-level competition for aspiring tennis players and a frequent battleground for established professionals. The USTA launched its Pro Circuit in 1979 to provide players with the opportunity to gain professional ranking points, and it has since grown to become the largest developmental tennis circuit in the world, offering nearly $3 million in prize money. Last year, more than 1,000 men and women from more than 70 countries competed in cities nationwide. John Isner, Maria Sharapova, Andy Murray, Caroline Woznaicki, Kei Nishikori, Victoria Azarenka and Sam Querrey are among today’s top stars who began their careers on the USTA Pro Circuit. Vomund Photography
More recently, the USTA Pro Circuit was a pathway to success for two young Americans in 2015—Samantha Crawford and Frances Tiafoe. Crawford, the 2012 US Open girls’ singles champion, started the 2015 season ranked No. 293 and competed in 23 USTA Pro Circuit events throughout the year. She went on to win the first USTA Pro Circuit singles title of her career at the $50,000 event in Scottsdale, Ariz., and also won two of the USTA Pro Circuit’s wild card challenges to earn wild cards into the 2015 US Open and 2016 Australian Open; the wild card challenges were based upon results on the USTA Pro Circuit. Crawford’s hard work paid off, and in January 2016, she rose to No. 107 in the world after a strong start to the year in Australia, where she reached her Samantha Crawford first WTA semifinal in Brisbane as a qualifier. Tiafoe, a former world No. 2 junior who turned pro early in 2015, started last season ranked No. 1,143. His successes on the USTA Pro Circuit not only allowed Tiafoe to finish the year ranked No. 176, but also gave him experience on the Grand Slam stage. Tiafoe won the Har-Tru USTA Pro Circuit Wild Card Challenge to earn a spot in the 2015 French Open, which marked his Grand Slam debut. He also won his first USTA Pro Circuit singles title in 2015 at the $15,000 Futures in Bakersfield, Calif., and reached three additional finals. Tiafoe also competed in the 2015 US Open as a wild card and continues to climb in the rankings.
U S TA P L AY E R D E V E L O P M E N T The USTA Player Development program, working with the American Tennis Family of players, coaches and families, helps to identify and develop the next generation of American champions by surrounding top junior players and young pros with the resources, facilities and coaching they need to reach their maximum potential. The Player Development program is based at the USTA Training Center Headquarters in Boca Raton, Fla., and utilizes National Training Centers in Carson, Calif., and Flushing, N.Y., as well as a network of Certified Regional Training Centers located throughout the United States.
YOUTH TENNIS The USTA is making it easier and more fun for kids to get into the game—and stay in the game. Kids are learning to play faster than ever before through the USTA’s youth initiative, which is geared toward getting more kids to participate in tennis using modified equipment and courts tailored to a child’s size. For more information, visit YouthTennis.com.
U S TA F O U N D AT I O N USTA Foundation, the national charitable organization of the USTA, helps serve up dreams for under-resourced youth; individuals with disabilities; and wounded, ill and injured service members, veterans and their families. The foundation supports programs nationwide that leverage tennis and education to help those in need, primarily through the National Junior Tennis & Learning (NJTL) network, and other efforts to assist military personnel, veterans and individuals with disabilities. To date, it has awarded more than $19 million in grants and scholarships to hundreds of programs, benefitting thousands of children and adults through a tennis, education and health curricula. For more information, visit the website www.ustafoundation.com.
U S O P E N N AT I O N A L P L AY O F F S The USTA launched the US Open National Playoffs in 2010, making the US Open “open” to anyone age 14+ and of all skill levels. Last year, more than 1,450 players competed in 13 Sectional Qualifying Tournaments nationwide for a 2015 US Open Qualifying Tournament wild card. A men’s doubles, women’s doubles, and mixed doubles element also was held, with the winning team earning a US Open main draw doubles wild card. Registration for all 2016 sectional events opens on March 15, with tournaments taking place in May and June. The US Open National Playoffs will take place in New Haven in August. For more information and the schedule, and to vie for a chance to compete in the US Open, visit www.usopen.org/NationalPlayoffs.
SADDLEBROOK USTA PRO CIRCUIT WOMEN’S 25K WESLEY CHAPEL, FL • JANUARY 17-24
The Saddlebrook USTA Pro Circuit Women’s 25K makes its debut in Wesley Chapel. The city also hosted a men’s event in 2008 It is the second USTA Pro Circuit women’s event of 2016 and the second of three consecutive $25,000 clay-court women’s events to kick off the season, all of which will be held in Florida. In conjunction with USTA Player Development, the USTA Pro Circuit continues to emphasize the importance of increased training on clay for younger players.
Site: Saddlebrook Resort Wesley Chapel, Fla. Websites: www.procircuit.usta.com Qualifying Draw Begins: Sunday, Jan. 17 Main Draw Begins: Tuesday, Jan. 19 Main Draw: 32 Singles / 16 Doubles Surface: Clay / Outdoor
To follow the tournament, download the USTA Pro Circuit’s new phone app for smartphones and tablets by searching “procircuit” in the Apple and Google Play stores.
Prize Money: $25,000 Tournament Director: Sean McQuillan, (616) 901-3775 [email protected]
Notable players competing in Wesley Chapel include:
Tournament Press Contact: Robert Riehle, (813) 629-1070 [email protected]
Top seed Shelby Rogers, who qualified for the 2015 US Open and advanced to the third round—her career-best Grand Slam result. Rogers peaked at No. 70 in the world in September 2014 after reaching her first WTA singles final in Bad Gastein, Austria, while also reaching the semifinals in Quebec City and the quarterfinals at the Emirates Airline US Open Series event in Montreal, where she upset then-Top 10 player Eugenie Bouchard. Rogers competed in her first Australian Open and Wimbledon main draws in 2015, in addition to competing in the French Open
USTA Communications Contact: Amanda Korba, (914) 697-2219, [email protected]
PRIZE MONEY / POINTS
DOUBLES: Prize Money (per team) Winner $1,437 Runner-Up $719 Semifinalist $359 Quarterfinalist $196 Round 16 $131
Tim Hartis
SINGLES: Prize Money Ranking Points Winner $3,919 50 Runner-Up $2,091 30 Semifinalist $1,144 18 Quarterfinalist $654 9 Round 16 $392 5 Round 32 $228 1
Steven Ryan
USTA PRO CIRCUIT DEBUTS IN WESLEY CHAPEL
TOURNAMENT INFORMATION
Shelby Rogers qualified for the 2015 US Open and advanced to the third round. She peaked at No. 70 in the world in September 2014 after reaching her first WTA singles final in Austria.
for the third time. She also won the doubles title at the $50,000 grass-court event in Eastbourne, Great Britain, in June 2015 with CoCo Vandeweghe. In 2013, Rogers earned a wild card into the French Open by winning the Har-Tru USTA Pro Circuit Wild Card Challenge—she reached the second round at Roland Garros—and secured a wild card into the 2013 US Open by winning the USTA Pro Circuit’s US Open Wild Card Challenge. In her career, Rogers has won four USTA Pro Circuit singles titles and one doubles title. As a junior player, she won the USTA Girls’ 18s National Championships to earn a wild card into the main draw of the 2010 US Open for her first appearance in a Grand Slam (in either the main draw or juniors). Sixteen-year-old CiCi Bellis, who made international headlines at the 2014 US Open with her first-round upset of No. 12 seed and reigning Australian Open finalist Dominika Cibulkova. With the victory, Bellis, then 15, became the youngest female player to win a main-draw match at the US Open since Anna Kournikova in 1996. Bellis earned a wild card into the US Open main draw as the USTA Girls’ 18s national champion; she was the youngest USTA Girls’ 18s national champion since Lindsay Davenport in 1991. Following the 2014 US Open, Bellis won the first USTA Teenager CiCi Bellis made international headlines at the 2014 US Open with her first-round upset of No. 12 seed Dominika Cibulkova.
*Player field subject to change
TOURNAMENT NOTES Pro Circuit singles titles of her career at $25,000 events in Rock Hill, S.C., and Florence, S.C. She added a third singles title in 2015 at the $25,000 event in Rancho Santa Fe, Calif. Also in 2015, Bellis reached the third round of the WTA event in Miami as a wild card before losing to Serena Williams. She peaked at No. 152 in the world in July 2015. In the junior ranks, Bellis clinched the ITF’s year-end No. 1 world ranking in December 2014, becoming the second American girl in the last three years to earn the ITF’s year-end top junior ranking for players ages 18 and under (joining Taylor Townsend, 2012). Also in December, Bellis reached the singles semifinals and won the doubles title at the Metropolia Orange Bowl International Championships in Plantation, Fla. In addition, she led the U.S. to the 2014 Junior Fed Cup title in Mexico, helping the American squad win the 16-and-under world team title for the third time in seven years (2008, 2012, 2014). Katerina Stewart, who had a strong season on the USTA Pro Circuit in 2015, winning three singles titles and going 13-2 in the spring in a string of $50,000 clay-court events, where she won in Indian Harbour Beach, Fla., and reached finals in Charlottesville, Va., and Savannah, Ga. Stewart peaked at a career-high No. 158 in the world in July. In 2014, she won the USTA Girls’ 18s National Clay Court Championships in Memphis. That capped a 34-match winning streak in junior and pro matches, during which she won three USTA Pro Circuit $10,000 clay-court events (Orlando, Fla.; Bethany Beach, Del.; and Charlotte, N.C.). Stewart was awarded a wild card into qualifying at the 2014 US Open and won her first-round qualifying match over Yuliya Beygelizimer, a former Top 100 player. She also played in the doubles main draw in New York that year with Louisa Chirico, falling in the first round. An accomplished player on all surfaces, Stewart was the USTA Girls’ 16s national hard court champion in 2013. Her mother, Marina, was an Argentine WTA pro. She is coached by her father, Cesar. Grace Min, the former US Open junior champion who peaked at a career-high No. 97 in the world in March 2015 after reaching the second round of the WTA’s Rio Open and competing in Indian Wells. In 2014, Min reached the semifinals of the WTA event in Bad Gastein, Austria—her first-ever WTA semifinal—and competed in the US Open and French Open main draws, qualifying at Roland Garros. Min was one of the top juniors in the world in 2011, when she won the US Open girls’ singles title and the Wimbledon girls’ doubles title. Those results helped propel her to No. 4 in the world junior rankings. In 2013, she qualified for the French Open—her first main-draw Grand Slam appearance outside the U.S.—as well as the US Open. She holds six USTA Pro Circuit singles titles overall, including the $25,000 event in Florence, S.C., in October 2015. Kristie Ahn, who graduated from Stanford in 2014 as a four-time AllAmerican. Ahn went 97-17 in four seasons at Stanford and was named the 2014 ITA National Senior Player of the Year. She qualified for the 2008 US Open, where she lost to former world No. 1 Dinara Safina in the first round. Ahn has also won five USTA Pro Circuit/ITF-level singles titles, including two titles in Korea and Canada in 2015, and one doubles title in 2010. Asia Muhammad, who learned to play tennis at the Andre Agassi Boys and Girls Club in Las Vegas. Muhammad is currently ranked in the Top 100 (at No. 84) in doubles after winning her first WTA doubles title in the Netherlands in June 2015, as well as four ITF-level doubles titles last year. In 2013, she captured her first singles title since 2007 at the $25,000 event in Raleigh, N.C. And in 2014, she won backto-back doubles titles at the $50,000 USTA Pro Circuit events in Charlottesville, Va., and Indian Harbour Beach, Fla.; she also won the US Open National Playoffs USTA Missouri Valley Sectional Qualifying
Tournament in summer 2014. Overall, Muhammad holds 18 career USTA Pro Circuit titles (15 doubles, three singles). Notable players competing in qualifying include: Former world No. 7 Nicole Vaidisova, who retired from pro tennis in 2010 before launching her comeback on the USTA Pro Circuit in fall 2014, where she reached the quarterfinals of the $50,000 USTA Pro Circuit event in Las Vegas in just her second tournament back. In her career, Vaidisova has won six WTA singles titles and reached the semifinals of the 2007 Australian Open and the 2006 French Open, upsetting No. 1 seed Amelie Mauresmo in the fourth round and Venus Williams in the quarterfinals at Roland Garros. Vaidisova has also represented the Czech Republic in Fed Cup. In 2015, she continued to play on the USTA Pro Circuit and in ITF-level events, reaching the quarterfinals or better at three tournaments. Taylor Townsend, who was a top storyline at the 2014 French Open, where she made her Grand Slam main-draw debut and advanced to the third round. She competed in the French Open as a wild card after winning the 2014 Har-Tru USTA Pro Circuit Wild Card Challenge, taking the challenge with victories at two $50,000 USTA Pro Circuit clay-court events: Charlottesville, Va., and Indian Harbour Beach, Fla. Those were the first two USTA Pro Circuit titles of her career. Townsend went on to compete at Wimbledon and the US Open in 2014 and at the Australian Open and French Open in 2015. In 2015, she made her Fed Cup debut in the World Group II First Round in Argentina, where she played doubles, and also won a doubles title in Indian Harbour Beach. Townsend is a former junior standout, clinching the year-end ITF No. 1 junior ranking in 2012 to become the first American girl to hold that position since Gretchen Rush in 1982. She ascended to No. 1 by winning the Australian Open junior singles and doubles titles, as well as the junior doubles titles at the US Open and Wimbledon. Also in 2012, she led the U.S. to the Junior Fed Cup championship. Townsend turned pro at the start of 2013 and, in her first WTA-level main-draw match, beat then-No. 57 Lucie Hradecka in the first round of Indian Wells. After playing primarily pro events early that year, she returned to the junior ranks in 2013 and reached the girls’ singles final at Wimbledon. Robin Anderson, who graduated from UCLA in 2015 after earning AllAmerica honors in both singles and doubles for the fourth consecutive year, becoming the seventh player in school history to accomplish that feat. She was named the ITA National Collegiate Player of the Year for 2014-15. Anderson was part of UCLA’s NCAA-title winning team in 2014 and reached the NCAA doubles final in 2013. At the 2015 US Open, she won the American Collegiate Invitational, a tournament for the top U.S. college players. In her career, Anderson has won one USTA Pro Circuit singles title ($10,000 Landisville, Pa., in 2011) and one doubles title ($25,000 Redding, Calif., in 2013). As a junior player, she reached the singles quarterfinals at the 2010 junior US Open. Lauren Embree, who completed her outstanding college career at the University of Florida in 2013 by being named the National College Player of the Year. Embree went 26-3 in her final year for the Gators at the No. 1 singles spot, and she compiled a staggering 117-16 singles record during her four years in Gainesville. As a pro in 2013, she won her second USTA Pro Circuit singles title at the $10,000 event in Fort Worth, Texas, after also winning a title in Wichita, Kan., in 2008. In 2015, she captured her third and fourth USTA Pro Circuit/ITF-level doubles titles in Australia. In 2009, Embree won a USTA wild-card playoff to earn a berth into the main draw of the French Open, where she lost in the opening round to former world No. 3 Nadia Petrova.
*Player field subject to change
TOURNAMENT NOTES Jamie Loeb, who completed her sophomore year at the University of North Carolina in 2015, where she won the NCAA Division I singles title that year, becoming the first singles national champion in North Carolina women’s tennis history. Loeb was also the top-ranked college tennis player for most of her freshman year. As a freshman, she was named the 2014 Intercollegiate Tennis Association Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year, as well as the 2014 ACC Women’s Tennis Player of the Year—making her the third North Carolina player ever to earn that distinction. In 2014, Loeb won the inaugural American College Invitational at the US Open. Loeb has now turned pro and earned a wild card into the 2015 US Open, where she lost to 2014 US Open finalist Caroline Wozniacki in the first round. Loeb was also a standout junior player, reaching the quarterfinals at the Wimbledon girls’ event in 2013 and the junior singles final at the 2013 USTA International Spring Championships in Carson, Calif.; she also won the doubles title in Carson. Loeb holds four USTA Pro Circuit singles titles, including the $25,000 event in El Paso, Texas, in 2015, and five doubles titles. She trains at the John McEnroe Tennis Academy in Randall’s Island, N.Y.
Sofia Kenin, 17, who made her Grand Slam main-draw debut at the 2015 US Open and also reached the 2015 US Open junior singles final. Kenin earned a wild-card berth into the US Open women’s singles draw by virtue of her USTA Girls’ 18s national title. Kenin, who goes by “Sonya,” is the No. 8-ranked junior in the world and represented the U.S. at the 2014 Youth Olympic Games in China. She reached her first career USTA Pro Circuit final last year at the $10,000 event in Gainesville, Fla., where she also reached the doubles final. Brooke Austin, a sophomore at Florida, who earned singles and doubles All-America honors for the 2014-15 season and was the 2015 SEC Player of the Year and Freshman of the Year. Austin won the first USTA Pro Circuit singles title of her career at the $25,000 event in Sumter, S.C., in 2014. She also reached the final of the $25,000 event in Baton Rouge, La., in summer 2015 as a qualifier. She holds two USTA Pro Circuit doubles titles, as well. Austin is a former junior standout who won the 2012 USTA Girls’ 18s Spring National Championships and helped lead the U.S. to back-toback World Junior Tennis titles (14 and under) in 2009 and 2010.
*Player field subject to change
TOURNAMENT NOTES U S TA P R O C I R C U I T With approximately 90 tournaments hosted annually throughout the country and prize money ranging from $10,000 to $100,000, the USTA Pro Circuit is the pathway to the US Open and tour-level competition for aspiring tennis players and a frequent battleground for established professionals. The USTA launched its Pro Circuit in 1979 to provide players with the opportunity to gain professional ranking points, and it has since grown to become the largest developmental tennis circuit in the world, offering nearly $3 million in prize money. Last year, more than 1,000 men and women from more than 70 countries competed in cities nationwide. John Isner, Maria Sharapova, Andy Murray, Caroline Woznaicki, Kei Nishikori, Victoria Azarenka and Sam Querrey are among today’s top stars who began their careers on the USTA Pro Circuit. Vomund Photography
More recently, the USTA Pro Circuit was a pathway to success for two young Americans in 2015—Samantha Crawford and Frances Tiafoe. Crawford, the 2012 US Open girls’ singles champion, started the 2015 season ranked No. 293 and competed in 23 USTA Pro Circuit events throughout the year. She went on to win the first USTA Pro Circuit singles title of her career at the $50,000 event in Scottsdale, Ariz., and also won two of the USTA Pro Circuit’s wild card challenges to earn wild cards into the 2015 US Open and 2016 Australian Open; the wild card challenges were based upon results on the USTA Pro Circuit. Crawford’s hard work paid off, and in January 2016, she rose to No. 107 in the world after a strong start to the year in Australia, where she reached her Samantha Crawford first WTA semifinal in Brisbane as a qualifier. Tiafoe, a former world No. 2 junior who turned pro early in 2015, started last season ranked No. 1,143. His successes on the USTA Pro Circuit not only allowed Tiafoe to finish the year ranked No. 176, but also gave him experience on the Grand Slam stage. Tiafoe won the Har-Tru USTA Pro Circuit Wild Card Challenge to earn a spot in the 2015 French Open, which marked his Grand Slam debut. He also won his first USTA Pro Circuit singles title in 2015 at the $15,000 Futures in Bakersfield, Calif., and reached three additional finals. Tiafoe also competed in the 2015 US Open as a wild card and continues to climb in the rankings.
U S TA P L AY E R D E V E L O P M E N T The USTA Player Development program, working with the American Tennis Family of players, coaches and families, helps to identify and develop the next generation of American champions by surrounding top junior players and young pros with the resources, facilities and coaching they need to reach their maximum potential. The Player Development program is based at the USTA Training Center Headquarters in Boca Raton, Fla., and utilizes National Training Centers in Carson, Calif., and Flushing, N.Y., as well as a network of Certified Regional Training Centers located throughout the United States.
YOUTH TENNIS The USTA is making it easier and more fun for kids to get into the game—and stay in the game. Kids are learning to play faster than ever before through the USTA’s youth initiative, which is geared toward getting more kids to participate in tennis using modified equipment and courts tailored to a child’s size. For more information, visit YouthTennis.com.
U S TA F O U N D AT I O N USTA Foundation, the national charitable organization of the USTA, helps serve up dreams for under-resourced youth; individuals with disabilities; and wounded, ill and injured service members, veterans and their families. The foundation supports programs nationwide that leverage tennis and education to help those in need, primarily through the National Junior Tennis & Learning (NJTL) network, and other efforts to assist military personnel, veterans and individuals with disabilities. To date, it has awarded more than $19 million in grants and scholarships to hundreds of programs, benefitting thousands of children and adults through a tennis, education and health curricula. For more information, visit the website www.ustafoundation.com.
U S O P E N N AT I O N A L P L AY O F F S The USTA launched the US Open National Playoffs in 2010, making the US Open “open” to anyone age 14+ and of all skill levels. Last year, more than 1,450 players competed in 13 Sectional Qualifying Tournaments nationwide for a 2015 US Open Qualifying Tournament wild card. A men’s doubles, women’s doubles, and mixed doubles element also was held, with the winning team earning a US Open main draw doubles wild card. Registration for all 2016 sectional events opens on March 15, with tournaments taking place in May and June. The US Open National Playoffs will take place in New Haven in August. For more information and the schedule, and to vie for a chance to compete in the US Open, visit www.usopen.org/NationalPlayoffs.
