ROLAND GARROS WILD CARD CHALLENGE TO BEGIN THE WEEK OF APRIL 8

Main Draw Wild Cards into 2019 French Open to be Awarded to Top-Performing

American Man and Woman over Spring Run of Clay-Court Events

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y., March 19, 2019 – The USTA today announced that the Roland Garros Wild Card Challenge, which utilizes clay-court pro tournaments to award an American man and woman a main draw wild card into the French Open, will kick off the week of April 8 for the men and April 15 for the women, with each side’s Challenge window lasting four weeks. The USTA and FFT have a reciprocal agreement in which main draw wild cards for the 2019 French Open and US Open are exchanged.

The men’s wild card will go to the American with the highest cumulative total of ATP singles ranking points earned from their best three results during the four-week men’s window, including results from any professional clay-court event at the ATP Challenger level and above around the world (main draw and qualifying points).

The women’s wild card will be awarded to the American with the highest cumulative total of WTA singles ranking points earned from their best two results during their four-week window, including results from WTA and USTA Pro Circuit / ITF World Tennis Tour events specified below (main draw and qualifying points).

Only Americans who did not otherwise earn direct entry into the French Open are eligible. Should the player with the highest number of Challenge points earn direct entry into the French Open, the wild card will go to the next eligible American in the Challenge points standings. In the event of a tie, the player with the best ATP or best WTA singles ranking at the end of the four-week Challenge windows will earn the wild card.

In a new provision, players ranked in the ATP or WTA Top 50 at the beginning of their respective Challenge windows are not eligible to earn the wild card.

The Roland Garros Wild Card Challenge will consist of the following events:

Men’s Events

• Week of April 8: ATP Tour 250s (Houston; Marrakech); ATP Challenger 80s (Barletta, Italy; Murcia, Spain)
• Week of April 15: ATP Masters 1000 Monte Carlo; ATP Challenger 125 (Anning, China); USTA Pro Circuit ATP Challenger 100 (Sarasota, Fla.); ATP Challenger 80s (Tunis, Tunisia; San Luis  Potosi, Mexico)
• Week of April 22: ATP Tour 500 (Barcelona); ATP Tour 250 (Budapest); USTA Pro Circuit / ATP Challenger 80 (Tallahassee, Fla.); ATP Challenger 80 (Francavilla, Italy)
• Week of April 29: ATP Tour 250s (Estoril; Munich); ATP Challenger 110 (Bordeaux, France); USTA Pro Circuit / ATP Challenger 80 (Savannah, Ga.); ATP Challenger 80 (Ostrava, Czech Republic)

Women’s Events

• Week of April 15: USTA Pro Circuit / ITF World Tennis Tour W80 (Dothan, Ala.)
• Week of April 22: WTA International (Istanbul); USTA Pro Circuit / ITF World Tennis Tour W80 (Charlottesville, Va.)
• Week of April 29: WTA Internationals (Prague; Rabat); USTA Pro Circuit / ITF World Tennis Tour W100 (Charleston, S.C.); ITF World Tennis Tour W60 (Wiesbaden, Germany)
• Week of May 6: WTA Premier Mandatory (Madrid); USTA Pro Circuit / ITF World Tennis Tour W100 (Bonita Springs, Fla.); ITF World Tennis Tour W100 (Cagnes-sur-Mer, France)

All USTA Pro Circuit tournaments will be streamed live on www.procircuit.usta.com. This is the eighth consecutive year the USTA has used a wild card challenge format to award French Open wild cards for American players. Previous Roland Garros Wild Card Challenge winners (and how they did at that year’s French Open) are below:

2018: Noah Rubin (1R); Taylor Townsend (2R)

2017: Tennys Sandgren (1R); Amanda Anisimova (1R)

2016: Bjorn Fratangelo (2R); Taylor Townsend (2R)

2015: Frances Tiafoe (1R); Louisa Chirico (1R)

2014: Robby Ginepri (1R); Taylor Townsend (3R)

2013: Alex Kuznetsov (1R); Shelby Rogers (2R)

2012: Brian Baker (2R); Melanie Oudin (2R)

The 2019 French Open main draw will be held Sunday, May 26, to Sunday, June 9.