US Open Wildcards - Men

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US Open Men's Wild Cards Awarded To James Blake, Former Top 10 Player Mark Philippoussis, Jan-Michael Gambill and a Talented Group Of Young Americans8/18/05 9:22 PM

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y., August 18, 2005 – The USTA today announced that James Blake (Tampa, Fla.), 1998 US Open runner-up Mark Philippoussis (Australia), former Top 20 player Jan-Michael Gambill (Colbert, Wash.) and a talented group of young Americans including Brian Baker (Nashville, Tenn.), Scoville Jenkins (Atlanta), , Rajeev Ram (Carmel, Ind.), Bobby Reynolds (Acworth, Ga.) and Donald Young (Fairburn, Ga.) have been awarded men’s singles main draw wild card entries into the 2005 US Open Tennis Championships, which will be played August 29 - September 11 at the USTA National Tennis Center in Flushing, N.Y.

Baker, 20, is currently No. 197 in the ATP Entry Ranking having been sidelined twice this year with injury. In the past three weeks, he reached the semifinal of USTA Challengers in Lexington, Ky., and Binghamton, N.Y. and the second round of the US Open Series event in Washington, DC. In April, following a three-month break with a left wrist injury, he reached the final of the USTA Challenger in Tunica Resorts, Miss.

Blake, 25, is currently No. 70 in the ATP Entry Ranking, but was ranked No. 107 and missed direct acceptance at the time of the US Open entry deadline. He reached the final of the US Open Series event in Washington, D.C. two weeks ago. Last year, he finished in the Top 100 for the fourth consecutive season despite a series of injuries and illness. Blake sparked his comeback in May during the clay court season, winning consecutive USTA Challengers in Tunica Resorts, Miss., and Forest Hills, N.Y. before advancing through qualifying to reach the second round of the French Open.

Gambill, 28, is currently ranked No. 142 after finishing in the Top 100 for the seventh consecutive season last year. The winner of three ATP titles has been ranked as high as No. 14 in world. Gambill reached the quarterfinals of the ATP event in Memphis in February and the semifinals of the Granby Challenger in Canada two weeks ago. He was a member of the U.S. Davis Cup team in 1998, 2000 and 2001.

Jenkins, 18, is currently ranked a career-high No. 373 in the ATP Entry Ranking in his first full season as a professional. Last year, he made his tour-level debut at the US Open, earning a wild card as the USTA Boys’ 18s champion and lost to defending champion Andy Roddick in the first round. This year he has reached the semifinals of USTA Futures in Harlingen, Texas and Auburn, Calif., and the quarterfinals of USTA Challengers in Aptos, Calif., and Lexington, Ky.

Philippoussis, 28, is currently No. 202 in the ATP Entry Ranking. The winner of 10 ATP singles titles has been ranked as high as No. 8 in the world and reached the final at the US Open in 1998 and Wimbledon in 2003. Philippoussis has played only eight tour-level events this year due to injury with his best finish coming in June when he reached the semifinals of ‘s-Hertogenbosch.

Ram, 21, is currently No. 221 in the ATP Entry Ranking, one spot below his career-high set two weeks ago. He reached his first Challenger final at the USTA $75,000 event in Aptos this summer and reached the semifinals of the Forest Hills Grass Court Challenger and Tampa Futures. Last year, he made his Grand Slam debut at the US Open.

Reynolds, 23, is currently a career-high No. 129 in the ATP Entry Rankings following a quarterfinal finish at the US Open Series event in Washington, D.C. He began the year by qualifying for the main draw at the Australian Open, where he reached the third round. Reynolds is 10-3 on the USTA Pro Circuit this summer, reaching the final of the Lexington Challenger and the semifinals of Aptos and Binghamton.

Young, 16, currently the No. 1 junior tennis player in the world, earned his wild card by winning the 2005 USTA Boys’ 18s National Championship last weekend in Kalamazoo, Mich. He will attempt to become the youngest player to win a men’s singles match at the US Open since Michael Chang in 1987, and will be the sixth youngest boy ever to compete in the US Open. Young defeated Sam Querrey in the Kalamazoo final 7-6(4), 5-7, 6-2 to become the second African-American to win the Boys’ 18s title in the tournament’s 90-year history, joining last year’s winner Jenkins.

The US Open Men’s Singles Championship is presented by Lexus. Both the men’s and women’s US Open singles champions will earn $1.1 million with the ability to earn up to $2.2 million based on their performances in the US Open Series. In addition, both US Open singles champions will receive a 2006 Lexus GS 430 automobile.

In addition to the eight US Open men’s singles main draw wild cards, the USTA also announced the nine men who have been awarded wild card entries into the US Open Qualifying Tournament, which will be held August 23-26 at the USTA National Tennis Center.

Six of the nine qualifying wild card recipients are age19 or younger.

Players receiving US Open qualifying wild cards are: Alex Clayton (17, Bradenton, Fla.), Brendan Evans (19, Key Biscayne, Fla.), Zack Fleishman (25, Playa del Rey, Calif.), John Paul Fruttero (24, Berkeley, Calif.), Jesse Levine (17, Boca Raton, Fla.), Wayne Odesnik (19, Weston, Fla.), Sam Querrey (17, Thousand Oaks, Calif.), Travis Rettenmaier (22, Los Angeles), and Timothy Smyczek (17, Milwaukee, Wisc.).

http://www.usta.com/ustanews/fullstory.sps?iNewsid=223664&itype=949&icategoryid=163
 
It's all about drawing power. Scud was a former top 10 player & US Open finalist. American fans know who he is.

IMO, the list of Open wildcards is far more fair than those Wimbledon wildcards(are some of the Brits they allow in teaching pros or real pros?)

Why does Murray deserve a wildcard? What is he ranked- 150? does the #150 player who hasn't really done anything deserve a wildcard over a name like Flipper or over American players?

Besides, doesn't Murray still have a shot a qualifying for the Open?
 
he may not have deserved it in your eyes, but the cincy tournament obviously thought so.

yeah so he is 153 ranked. bog deal whats your point here??
Jenkins, 18, is currently No. 373
Ram, 21, is currently No. 221
Baker, 20, is currently No. 197

so your arguement for the rankings goes out the window right there.

what have these guys done? Ram got to the final of a challenger. 1 challenger.
murray has beat taylor dent twice this year and pushed Nalb hard at Wimbs. he won 2, yes 2 challengers in the last month. what have the others done to deserve their WC.
WC are in a way who deserves it, but more do do with PR.

the fact is that the US will favour the home players, and quite rightly so, murray got the WC at Wimbs and showed that he was worth it there. good luck to the US WC its a chance for them to play in the biggest tournament in their home country and hopefull generate some good PR for US tennis. thats the main reason they have been given the WC. Young will have the US buzzing soon and quite rightly so, they need someone fresh to help Andy build tennis up in the US again, for as much as Taylor is a nice guy he is not doing it on the court. good luck to them and to murray in the qualifiers next week. i hope they all do well.
 
Where are the latino players

I read in uS Today that Latinos are now the country's largest and fastest growing minority group - is the USTA investing any resources into tapping this potential? Good to see there are a couple of up and coming African-American male players. The future for American tennis lies in tapping all of its resources
 
Hopefully Sco can do a little somethin this year there. He's been playin pretty well lately, so if he draws a qualifier or someone a little lower ranked (which I really doubt he does) he'd have a pretty good shot at getting to the second round.

Sco's gotten to 3 Futures semis (which had some pretty good players in them too), 4 Futures quarters, 2 Challenger quarters, and he almost beat Kevin Kim in the 1st round in Memphis (I know beating Kim may not sound like much, but it is when ur ranked like 600 at the time), and he's risen over 200 spots in the singles rankings. And plus he won a Challenger doubles title (w/ Reynolds) and got to a Futures doubles final (w/ de Heart) and has risen a good 400 spots in doubles (and I understand the doubles has nothing to do with the singles but I figured it was all worth a mention lol :p). And he's done most of that in the last month and a half.

Anyways.... just thought I should help prove that Sco deserves his WC.:)

And edberg505 and tennisjunkiela r right, thats definitely great to see. Hopefully Donald, Sco, Timothy Neily, and Philip Simmonds (and any others) can all do a little somethin on the main tour in the future.
 
I can't believe they didn't give Murray a wild card. That kid is capable of pulling in a huge crowd and his game is currently well above most of the WC receivers. Damn.
 
Agree that Murray should have gotten a wildcard, given that he's beaten Dent a couple of times this year. Baker and Jenkins still have a chance to be players, maybe one of them could be the next Kevin Kim. Gambill, not so much, maybe the USTA gave him the nod because they like Fee, I can't think of any other reason. Reynolds and Ram, I don't know, maybe they want to reward them for playing some college tennis, seems like Querrey should have gotten into the main draw.
 
atatu said:
Agree that Murray should have gotten a wildcard, given that he's beaten Dent a couple of times this year. Baker and Jenkins still have a chance to be players, maybe one of them could be the next Kevin Kim. Gambill, not so much, maybe the USTA gave him the nod because they like Fee, I can't think of any other reason. Reynolds and Ram, I don't know, maybe they want to reward them for playing some college tennis, seems like Querrey should have gotten into the main draw.
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Since I started my Sco site Ive been keepin pretty close track of the Futures and Challenger events, and Reynolds has been doin pretty well. He's been gettin to the quarters and semis of Challengers consistently. I definitely think he deserved the WC.

Now as for Ram, he hasnt done as good, but still not terrible. IMO he deserves it a little more than Querrey does, just because Querrey hasnt seemed to do as well in Challengers. But Querrey definitely deserve the WC into the qualies tho.:)

But someone I think deserved a WC into the main draw was Odesnik. From what Ive noticed he's been doin pretty well too.
 
I am not surprised that Murray failed to get a WC. The US Open favors WC entries to up and coming American players, just like tournaments in other countries generally give WCs to their own players. Scud got one because he is a draw for the crowds, but Murray is pretty much unknown in the US except to hardcore tennis fans.
 
atatu said:
Reynolds and Ram, I don't know, maybe they want to reward them for playing some college tennis, seems like Querrey should have gotten into the main draw.
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At this point in time Reynolds and Ram are much better players than Querrey. Reynolds got to the 3rd round of the Aussie Open this year and is ranked 129th. Ram got to the finals of a Challenger event which is a lot harder than getting to the finals of the Boys 18 at Kalamazoo.
 
Well as long as we're discussing journeymen pros, what's the deal with Scott Oudsema's five inch pony ? Seriously, does anyone else think the new Ralph Lauren clothes look ridiculous. I like RL clothes (for work) but keep the pony small !
 
Well, sure Reynolds and Ram are "better" but who has more potential at this point ? I'm not sure why you would give a 23 year old who has maxed out his talent a wildcard over an up and coming 17 year old, but I like Reynolds, he's a great guy with a lot of heart.
 
Bobby Reynolds has earned his entry into grand slam events, IMO.

Playing thru Qualies and making it to the 3rd rd is one heck of a feat. He knocked off a top 25 player in the 2nd rd too!
 
Bobby Reynolds has been steadily improving throughout the course of the year. His wildcard was no surprise. Same with Sco, yes he's still ranked in the 300's, but the USTA seems to be impressed with his development (remember, he's still 18 years old, 19 in September I think). I think Delic was passed over for Baker because he may not be healthy, or he may be iffy to play the USO at all. Querrey is just barely 18 years old, still developing, and a qualie wildcard is the right thing for him at this stage. If Sam can get a handle on that 6'4" frame of his (I think he's still growing), he could have a very bright future. Right now, he's kind of all arms and legs, but he has a pretty big serve already.

As for JMG, he convinced them on his own I guess. My powers begin and end with getting threads 'sticky-ed' here on this forum. :D He's been injured for so long with this chronic leg soreness, I just hope he's healthy enough to get some confidence back and play well here. If not, seriously, take the rest of the year off and just let it heal already.
 
Kevin Patrick said:
It's all about drawing power. Scud was a former top 10 player & US Open finalist. American fans know who he is.

IMO, the list of Open wildcards is far more fair than those Wimbledon wildcards(are some of the Brits they allow in teaching pros or real pros?)

Why does Murray deserve a wildcard? What is he ranked- 150? does the #150 player who hasn't really done anything deserve a wildcard over a name like Flipper or over American players?

Besides, doesn't Murray still have a shot a qualifying for the Open?
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W/C's are also generally reciprocated at the majors. The USTA gives Flipper a W/C at the USO and in January the Aussies may give Blake or another American that W/C at the AO, the next major, if Blake hasn't raised his ranking enough by then. And the USTA probably figured that their next best grass court hopes aside from Roddick and Agassi (i.e. Dent, Fish, maybe Blake etc.) will probably be ranked high enough by July '06 for direct entry at Wimby. So Flipper in, Murray plays the qualies.
 
Murray showed he can hang with the big boys by taking out some big names this year. At Wimbledon he defeated Stephanek and should have overcome Nalbandian except for fitness problems late on. He also took TOJO and Safin to 3 sets this year. He also took out Taylor Dent twice this year.

Murray has shown the tennis world what he is capable of. I am sure he has alot of fans around the world due to his work-ethic and emotion he shows on court. Scud may be a high profile name but he is a "has-been", I doubt he will make an impact and do the wildcard any justice.
 
scud may not make an impact greatly but he will pull in the crowds. the tournament has to do the best it thinks for attendances etc
 
Kevin Patrick said:
Why does Murray deserve a wildcard? What is he ranked- 150? does the #150 player who hasn't really done anything deserve a wildcard over a name like Flipper or over American players?
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I think the countries that host the Grand Slams have an arrangement with each, an understanding that they'll be extra considerate of each others deserving countrymen when determining who'll receive wildcards.
 
They probably gave Philipoussis and Jan Michael Gambill wildcards because they bring in the ladies.

As for Scoville Jenkins getting a wildcard, I'd say that Wayne Odesnik or Brendan Evans would be a better choice. Also, has anyone noticed that Alex Kuznetsov is playing US Open Juniors? He's a better player than Jenkins and Donald Young.
 
Grinder said:
As for Scoville Jenkins getting a wildcard, I'd say that Wayne Odesnik or Brendan Evans would be a better choice. Also, has anyone noticed that Alex Kuznetsov is playing US Open Juniors? He's a better player than Jenkins and Donald Young.
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Ok yeah, I definitely dont agree with that lol, but oh well. And Alex is coming back from (what seems to be) a pretty bad car accident, so I dont really blame him for goin back to the juniors just to get a little more practice before goin back to play the pros. There might be a little more info about the accident on his official site (http://alexkuznetsov.8m.com).
 
Giving Philipoussis a wild card is a disgrace.His career is in freefall and that is self inflicted.He has a disgraceful work ethic and doesnt put in the hours.Complete waste of space and deserves to where he currently is-on the (s)crapheap
 
I can't believe they wasted a wild card on Gambill and didn't give one to Murray. That's nuts. He must have bribed someone with a Jaguar ;)

Oh, and didn't Brendan Evans supposed to be the next big thing? He is now 19 and we haven't heard anything from him in the last 1.5 years.
 
Matt H. said:
i'm kinda shocked that Amer Delic didn't get a wildcard.

He lost 2nd rd to Moya in 4 sets last year.
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You beat me to the punch, Matt. I guess I'm not so much surprised anymore as I'm just disappointed. He received a WC in 2003, losing a thrilling 5-setter to Sargsian, and in 2004 lost a 4-setter to Moya in 2R. Dude just hasn't been able to convert his NCAA success into wins on the ATP tour.

IIRC, he hasn't made it through the other quallies, typicall going out early.
 
Amer hasn't had much luck lately. I think he's injured. He took off a couple of weeks and came back this week for the Bronx Challenger. In that tournament he lost in the first round to his former teammate Brian Wilson. I think he made it to the final round of qualifying for the Aussie Open and Wimbledon. At Wimbledon, he lost to Clement. It was a weird match because everyone thought Clement would retire because he was assured of getting in as a lucky loser due to withdrawals of main draw entrants. He didn't and beat Amer in straight sets. I'm sure Amer will play the qualifying for the USO.
 
35ft6 said:
I think the countries that host the Grand Slams have an arrangement with each, an understanding that they'll be extra considerate of each others deserving countrymen when determining who'll receive wildcards.
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They don't, actually. The French federation and the Aussie federation have a formal agreement to trade one wildcard in each draw every year and that's it. The USTA does what it wants and the All England Club does what it wants.

Andy Murray may be the most recent flavor of the month on the tour, but I never seriously thought the USTA would give him a wildcard. There were too many Americans fighting over them. I disagree with giving a spot to Flip simply because he just doesn't seem to care anymore (but yes he's a former finalist, etc, etc, etc). None of us were in the room, so we can speculate on the thought process involved, but we will never know. As for Jan-Mike, yes he's having a horrible, horrible year, but throughout his career he has done whatever was asked of him, whenever, to promote the game of tennis, so perhaps he called the favor back in.
 
Yeah but doesn't the Australian give a wc to the highest ranked Asian player who isn't in the draw also ? Part of their marketing the tournament as the Pacific Slam....
 
They might, hadn't noticed. But that is still their decision and has no bearing on any other slam.
 
Oh, got it. This whole WC debate has been a little comical for me, but the two guys I was most concerned about got in, and there were 2 guys that I was pleased to see get qualie WC's as well. Draw is out Monday evening I belive, qualies start on Tuesday. (Main draw public ceremony at the UN on Wednesday).
 
Fee said:
Oh, got it. This whole WC debate has been a little comical for me, but the two guys I was most concerned about got in, and there were 2 guys that I was pleased to see get qualie WC's as well. Draw is out Monday evening I belive, qualies start on Tuesday. (Main draw public ceremony at the UN on Wednesday).
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what has been comical about the thread, i honestly think ive missed something????? :neutral:
 
Murray is new star.he is famous in UK,because he is tennis’s hope in UK.
but USA fans is unknown Murray.
key question NO main-court
 
atatu said:
Yeah but doesn't the Australian give a wc to the highest ranked Asian player who isn't in the draw also ? Part of their marketing the tournament as the Pacific Slam....
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Actually i think the Australia Open gives that one WC to the winner of the Asian AO qualifying tournament. The winner there is awarded a WC, one for mens one for womens.
 
It would be nice to see Blake and Flip ride this wild card, and Blake especially should be considered because he seems nice and healthy again. I'll also be cheering for my fellow junior, Donald Young.
 
Babblelot said:
You beat me to the punch, Matt. I guess I'm not so much surprised anymore as I'm just disappointed. He received a WC in 2003, losing a thrilling 5-setter to Sargsian, and in 2004 lost a 4-setter to Moya in 2R. Dude just hasn't been able to convert his NCAA success into wins on the ATP tour.

IIRC, he hasn't made it through the other quallies, typicall going out early.
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update
Delic is the #32 seed in the qualies. Alex Bogdanovic (GBR) is his 1R opponent.

Go Amer!
 
When it comes to wild cards for guys featuring largely on the satelite circuit then almost all are "unknown" in any general sense. I would have thought though that Murray's antics at Wimbledon and then upset of prominent US player Dent and winning a title in the US recently might have earned him a break - given his ranking is now 150+ and rising. But correct me if I'm wrong but didn't he win the US Open Junior last year? That alone should get you a WC the following year into the main draw I would have thought. No question though that each GS heavily favours domestic talent, so in that respect US Open no different to any other .... except possibly Aussie where they definitely hand a few spots to some of the up and coming Asian players.

Meanwhile what on earth has happend to JM Gambrill - his ranking is a real shock. Has he been injured or just playing like me?
 
Do any of the slams give a wildcard to the guy who won the junior title the previous year?

That's what I thought...
 
Fee said:
Do any of the slams give a wildcard to the guy who won the junior title the previous year?

That's what I thought...
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jings
its not so much who deserves them but who the USTA thinks should have no. players could argue their case for weeks about who deserves it more but at the end of the day it comes down to who they think will bring in crowds, who the want to highlight to the american public etc. its their chances to get some of the up and coming US players noticed and rightfully so. every slam does the same thing, hence murray getting a WC at wimbs. its no big deal he is playing in the qualies and if he doesnt get in the main draw from there then its tough. not tough luck just tough. by the way he is up to 122 ranking now but that still means there is roughly 60 odd people above him that could claim there ranking deserves a WC. it will do him good and he can learn alot from qualifiers and its part of the experience he needs, so i say make him qualify for everything just now. it will help also with his very poor physical condition.

Fee,
why are you so confrontational, the guy is just expressing his opinion. he is allowed to do that the last i knew.
he said that "i would have thought" not " thats the way it is"
 
Andy Murray def. Israel's Dudi Sela 6-4 6-4 to play Itlaian Paolo Lorenzi who defeated Jacob Adaktusson 6-2 7-6
 
Not really worth starting a new thread but people here are pretty interested in young American players so: Alex Kuznetsov 18 yo who was a junior FO finalist and starting to do pretty well in challengers was in a bad car crash training (driving Scoville Jenkins' Mustang after practice) he broke his femur had surgery (rods placed) and is now going to try to play the USO junior open...Hopefully hell be able to pull a Muster and get back after serious injury. I saw him play Kalamazoo as a 15 and 16 yo--he impressed lots of college coaches and USTA high performance coaches with his play there.

As for the issue about Reynolds and Ram going to college. Ram only spent 1 yr in college and has been doing pretty well consistently moving up the ranks. I think its quite reasonable that he got a WC. Reynolds got to 3rd round of Aussie open--so both are reasonable choices for WC.
 
It wasn't Sco's Mustang, it belonged to someone else. Name escapes me, but I know for sure it wasn't Sco.

Good to hear Alex may be ready to play again. The early estimates were that he would be out for a year, so I'm gald that he's ahead of the curve a little bit.
 
2R qualifying

Alexander Peya AUT 6 3 7(9)
def. ..............................................Alexander Peya
Amer Delic USA (32) 4 6 6(7)


...damn
 
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