| (July 21, 2021) – Ashleigh Barty and Novak Djokovic, the No. 1 ranked players in the world who are fresh off Wimbledon titles, highlight the initial singles entry list for the 2021 Western & Southern Open. The Top 20 players in both the ATP Tour and WTA Tour rankings have entered the event, which will be held Aug. 14-22. The field also includes 11 former tournament winners, including the defending champions Djokovic and Victoria Azarenka, both two-time Western & Southern Open winners. Cincinnati will welcome five former champions in the WTA field, featuring Karolina Pliskova (2016), Garbiñe Muguruza (2017)and Madison Keys (2019) along with two-time champions Serena Williams and Azarenka. In addition to Djokovic, former ATP champions returning to Cincinnati in 2021 include Daniil Medvedev (2019), Rafael Nadal (2013), Grigor Dimitrov (2017), Marin Cilic (2016) and seven-time champion Roger Federer. The women’s field is also highlighted by 13 total Major champions, with recent winners including 2020 Western & Southern Open finalist Naomi Osaka (2020 US Open, 2021 Australian Open), Barbora Krejcikova (2021 French Open), Sofia Kenin (2020 Australian Open) and Iga Swiatek (2020 French Open). Eight entrants have held WTA’s No. 1 ranking, with Azarenka, Barty, Osaka, Pliskova, Muguruza and Williams being joined by multi-time Cincinnati finalists Simona Halep and Angelique Kerber. In addition to the wealth of experience among the women’s field, 10 participants are 23 or younger. Leading the WTA youth movement is 17-year-old Cori “Coco” Gauff, who will make her debut in Cincinnati following a quarterfinal finish in the 2021 French Open. Djokovic’s Western & Southern Open title defense will come as he chases history this season. The winner of the year’s first three Majors, he is bidding to be the first man since Rod Laver in 1969 to complete a calendar Grand Slam. The trio of Major titles this season has drawn him level with Federer and Nadal atop the all-time list, with each having won 20 titles at Grand Slam tournaments. A trio of former US Open champions are also on the Cincinnati entry list: Dominic Thiem (2020), Stan Wawrinka (2016) and Cilic (2014). The men’s field comprises the top 43 players in the ATP rankings and will have 11 players aged 23-or-younger competing. Leading the ATP youth charge is 19-year-old Jannik Sinner, who held a career-high ranking of 17 earlier in 2021 and reached the 2020 French Open Quarterfinals. The initial entrants to both fields are as follows: |
| ATP Tour Rank – Name (Age) Nat. 1 – Novak Djokovic (34) SRB 2 – Daniil Medvedev (25) RUS 3 – Rafael Nadal (35) ESP 4 – Stefanos Tsitsipas (22) GRE 5 – Alexander Zverev (24) GER 6 – Dominic Thiem (27) AUT 7 – Audrey Rublev (23) RUS 8 – Matteo Berrettini (25) ITA 9 – Roger Federer (39) SUI 10 – Denis Shapovalov (22) CAN 11 – Pablo Carreno Busta (29) ESP 12 – Hubert Hurkacz (24) POL 13 – Diego Schwartzman (28) ARG 14 – Casper Ruud (22) NOR 15 – Felix Auger-Aliassime (20) CAN 16 – Roberto Bautista Agut (32) ESP 17 – Alex de Minaur (21) AUS 18 – Gael Monfils (34) FRA 19 – Cristian Garin (25) CHI 20 – David Goffin (30) BEL 21 – Grigor Dimitrov (30) BUL 22 – Milos Raonic (30) CAN 23 – Jannik Sinner (19) ITA 24 – Aslan Karatsev (27) RUS 25 – Karen Khachanov (25) RUS 26 – Lorenzo Sonego (26) ITA 27 – Daniel Evans (31) GBR 28 – Ugo Humbert (23) FRA 29 – Stan Wawrinka (36) SUI 30 – Cameron Norrie (25) GBR 31 – Fabio Fognini (34) ITA 32 – Reilly Opelka (23) USA 33 – Borna Coric (24) CRO 34 – Filip Krajinovic (29) SRB 35 – Alejandro Davidovich Fokina (22) ESP 36 – Marin Cilic (32) CRO 37 – Taylor Fritz (23) USA 38 – Marton Fucsovics (29) HUN 39 – John Isner (36) USA 40 – Alexander Bublik (24) KAZ 41 – Adrian Mannarino (33) FRA 42 – Nikoloz Basilashvili (29) GEO 43 – Albert Ramos-Vinolas (33) ESP 69* – Kei Nishikori (31) JPN Bold indicates past W&S Open champion *Using injury protected ranking WTA Tour Rank – Name (Age) Nat. 1 – Ashleigh Barty (25) AUS 2 – Naomi Osaka (23) JPN 3 – Aryna Sabalenka (23) BLR 4 – Sofia Kenin (22) USA 5 – Bianca Andreescu (21) CAN 6 – Elina Svitolina (26) UKR 7 – Karolina Pliskova (29) CZE 8 – Iga Swiatek (20) POL 9 – Garbiñe Muguruza (27) ESP 10 – Simona Halep (29) ROU 11 – Barbora Krejcikova (25) CZE 12 – Belinda Bencic (24) SUI 13 – Petra Kvitova (31) CZE 14 – Victoria Azarenka (31) BLR 15 – Jennifer Brady (26) USA 16 – Serena Williams (39) USA 17 – Elise Mertens (25) BEL 18 – Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (30) RUS 19 – Maria Sakkari (25) GRE 20 – Elena Rybakina (22) KAZ 22 – Angelique Kerber (33) GER 23 – Ons Jabeur (26) TUN 24 – Karolina Muchova (24) CZE 25 – Coco Gauff (17) USA 26 – Madison Keys (26) USA 27 – Jessica Pegula (27) USA 28 – Anett Kontaveit (25) EST 29 – Paula Badosa (23) ESP 30 – Jelena Ostapenko (24) LAT 31 – Daria Kasatkina (24) RUS 32 – Petra Martic (30) CRO 33 – Veronika Kudermetova (24) RUS 34 – Ekaterina Alexandrova (26) RUS 35 – Yulia Putintseva (26) KAZ 36 – Alison Riske (31) USA 37 – Tamara Zidansek (23) SLO 38 – Nadia Podoroska (24) ARG 39 – Sorona Cirstea (31) ROU 40 – Johanna Konta (30) GBR 41 – Marketa Vondrousova (22) CZE 42 – Shelby Rogers (28) USA 44 – Danielle Collins (27) USA |
| The top eight seeds in both draws will receive first round byes. Eight women and seven men will be added to the fields through a two-round qualifying tournament that will be held Aug. 14-15. Four men and as many as five women will be awarded wild card entries into the main draw singles fields. Tournament action will take place Aug. 14-22, where first serve will take place at 10 a.m. on Aug. 14 for the qualifying tournament. The men’s and women’s singles finals will take place on Sunday, Aug. 22. The full schedule is available here. All tickets, including full series, mini-plans, single session and hospitality packages, are now on sale and information about available tickets can be found here. The Western & Southern Open, an ATP Masters 1000 and a WTA 1000, is part of the US Open Series and is held at the Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason, Ohio |
