US Open Announces Wildcards
FLUSHING, N.Y., Aug. 13, 2019 – The USTA today announced that Americans Bjorn Fratangelo, Marcos Giron, and Jack Sock join US Open Wild Card Challenge winner Ernesto Escobedo and 2019 USTA Boys’ 18s National Champion Zachary Svajda as 2019 US Open men’s singles main draw wild card recipients. Antoine Hoang was awarded a main draw wild card by the French Tennis Federation as part of its reciprocal agreement with the USTA, and Tennis Australia’s reciprocal agreement main draw wild card will go to a player to be announced.
The 2019 US Open main draw will be played Aug. 26-Sept. 8 at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing, N.Y. Both the men’s and women’s singles champions this year will earn $3.85 million.
Escobedo, 23, of Los Angeles, earned his wild card by winning the US Open Wild Card Challenge. Ranked as high as No. 67 in the world as a 21-year-old, Escobedo won his first ATP Challenger Tour title in nearly three years this July.
Fratangelo, 26, of Pittsburgh, was the second-highest-ranked American in US Open Qualifying, at No. 121. Fratangelo has played in the US Open main draw three times, from 2015-17, reaching the second round in 2017.
Giron, 26, of Thousand Oaks, Calif., was the 2014 NCAA singles champion at UCLA. He spent nearly a year away from competition following two hip surgeries in 2015 and 2016 and has had a career resurgence this year, including a run through qualifying to the third round at Indian Wells.
Sock, 26, of Kansas City, Mo., is a former world No. 8 who missed six months with a thumb injury sustained at the Australian Open. Sock has played in every singles main draw of the US Open since 2010, reaching the fourth round in 2016, and is a former US Open champion in men’s doubles (2018, with Mike Bryan), mixed doubles (2011, with Melanie Oudin) and boys’ singles (2010).
Svajda, 16, earned his wild card by winning the USTA Boys’ 18s National Championship on Sunday. A San Diego native, Svajda regularly trains at the USTA National Campus and has counted Roger Federer, John Isner and Taylor Fritz among his hitting partners.
Hoang, 23, of Aix-En-Provence, received the French Federation’s reciprocal wild card. He is ranked No. 101 and reached the third round at Roland Garros this year.
The USTA also announced the nine men who have been awarded wild card entries into the US Open Qualifying Tournament, taking place August 19-23 at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, as part of US Open Fan Week.
The recipients are: JC Aragone (24, Yorba Linda, Calif.), part of three NCAA championship teams at the University of Virginia; Jenson Brooksby (18, Carmichael, Calif.), the 2018 USTA Boys’ 18s national champion and incoming freshman at Baylor; Maxime Cressy (22, Hermosa Beach, Calif.), a four-year player and 2019 ITA All-American at UCLA; Sebastian Korda (19, Bradenton, Fla.), a former junior world No. 1 and son of former Australian Open champion Petr Korda; Stefan Kozlov (21, Pembroke Pines, Fla.), a former junior standout who earned his wild card through a playoff held at the USTA National Campus last month; Govind Nanda (18, Redlands, Calif.), the 2019 USTA Boys’ 18s national runner-up and rising sophomore at UCLA; Sam Riffice (20, Orlando, Fla.), an ITA All-American as a freshman at the University of Florida in 2019; Alex Rybakov (22, Coral Springs, Fla.), a two-time ITA All-American over four standout seasons at TCU; JJ Wolf (20, Cincinnati), who recently turned pro following three First Team All-Big Ten seasons at Ohio State.
The USTA also named the 2019 US Open women’s singles wild card recipients. Americans Francesca Di Lorenzo, Coco Gauff, Caty McNally and Whitney Osuigwe will join US Open Wild Card Challenge winner Kristie Ahn and USTA Girls’ 18s National Champion Katie Volynets as main draw wild card recipients. Australia’s Samantha Stosur, the 2011 US Open champion, and France’s Diane Parry will also receive US Open main draw wild cards by virtue of the wild card exchange agreements between the USTA and those two Grand Slam nations.
The 2019 US Open main draw will be played Aug. 26-Sept. 8 at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing, N.Y. Both the men’s and women’s singles champions this year will earn $3.85 million.
Di Lorenzo, 22, of New Albany, Ohio, utilized a US Open qualifying wild card last year to reach the main draw, making her Grand Slam debut, where she reached the second round. The former NCAA doubles champion is currently ranked a career-best No. 128.
Gauff, 15, of Delray Beach, Fla., became the youngest qualifier in the history of Wimbledon in July, proceeding to reach fourth round in her Grand Slam debut. In her first professional event following Wimbledon, she partnered with McNally to win the Citi Open doubles title.
McNally, 17, of Cincinnati, qualified for the Wimbledon main draw in July and, in addition to winning the doubles title in Washington D.C., reached the singles semifinals of the Citi Open, notching the first three WTA wins of her career.
Osuigwe, 17, of Bradenton, Fla., made her Grand Slam main draw debut at the 2018 US Open. The former French Open junior champion won the ITF World Tennis Tour W80 event earlier this year in Charlottesville, Va., and is currently ranked a career-best No. 105.
Ahn, 27, of Upper Saddle River, N.J., won the US Open Wild Card Challenge to earn her first US Open singles main draw appearance since 2008 when she qualified as a 16-year-old. The three-time All-American at Stanford University recently reached the quarterfinals of the Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic as a qualifier.
Volynets, 17, of Walnut Creek, Calif., won the USTA Billie Jean King Girls’ 18s National Championship and will make her US Open main draw debut.
Parry, 16, will make her US Open main draw debut after winning the French Federation’s wild card playoff. The USTA and French Federation exchanged main draw wild cards into the French and US Opens this year for one man and woman from the opposite country. American Lauren Davis earned the reciprocal wild card into Roland Garros this year, where she reached the second round.
Stosur, 35, the 2011 US Open champion, will make her 15th US Open main draw appearance after being awarded Tennis Australia’s reciprocal wild card. Earlier this year, Osuigwe made her Australian Open main debut after earning a wild card due to the reciprocal wild card arrangement between the USTA and Tennis Australia.
The USTA also announced the nine women who have been awarded wild card entries into the US Open Qualifying Tournament, taking place August 19-23 at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, as part of US Open Fan Week.
The recipients are: Hailey Baptiste (17, Washington, D.C.), who earned her first-career WTA win last month at the Citi Open; Reese Brantmeier (14, Whitewater, Wis.), the USTA Billie Jean King Girls’ 16s singles champion; Caroline Dolehide (20, Hinsdale, Ill.), who recently won the singles silver medal and doubles gold medal at the Pan American Games; Vicky Duval (23, Miami), who is looking to reach her first Grand Slam main draw since returning to the WTA Tour in 2017 following a cancer diagnosis; Jamie Loeb (24, Ossining, N.Y.), the 2015 NCAA singles champion; Bethanie Mattek-Sands (33, Rochester, Minn.), a five-time Grand Slam doubles champion, including the 2016 US Open doubles champion; Emma Navarro (18, Charleston, S.C.), the USTA Girls’ 18s runner-up and 2019 French Open girls’ singles finalist; Shelby Rogers (26, Charleston, S.C.), a two-time finalist on the WTA Tour who is continuing her comeback from knee surgery; and Katrina Scott (15, Woodland Hills, Calif.), one of the top rising American juniors.
