The Winston-Salem Open at Wake Forest University has announced the player field for the tournament, taking place Aug. 18-25.
As of the announcement, 38 of the 48 slots have been filled in the men’s singles competition through the ATP’s tournament acceptance process plus James Blake as the first wild card player.
According to the ATP, the 39 players slated to compete to the Winston-Salem Open are all ranked in the top 68 in the world. By comparison, last year’s players ranked in the top 81. Twenty-two of the players competing in the Winston-Salem Open are ranked among the ATP top 50. The tournament will add 9 additional players through additional wild cards and several slots that will be determined from qualifying play prior to the tournament. There will be an additional field of 16 doubles teams to be named closer to the tournament.
“With the exception of perhaps one other tournament, the Winston-Salem Open has the strongest field of contenders of any tennis tournament in America this summer. The work that everyone associated with the Winston-Salem Open did last year really has paid off,” said tournament director Bill Oakes. “We also believe our field of players is exceptionally strong because many of them will want playing time on a surface like ours between competing on Wimbledon’s grass courts during upcoming Olympics and the U.S. Open, which has a surface like the Winston-Salem Open.”
The players who came to Winston-Salem last year loved playing here and loved our city. Almost immediately after the conclusion of last year’s tournament, several of the players expressed a desire to return in 2012,” he added. “Our expectations for having a world-class professional tennis tournament in Winston-Salem have been fulfilled this year, and I’m thrilled with the field of players who will be competing next month. It’s going to be a great event by all measures.”
Oakes said that he expects the Winston-Salem Open will draw additional strong players through the wild card and qualifying process.
The newly announced players join Kevin Anderson, Julien Benneteau, James Blake, Alexandr Dolgopolov, Marcel Granollers, John Isner, Andy Roddick, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Donald Young who committed earlier this spring and summer. Isner is the defending champion of the event.
The Winston-Salem Open, an ATP World Tour 250 event, has a total purse of $625,000. Qualifying is set for Aug. 18. The tournament will be the final men’s event of the Emirates Airline US Open Series. For more information, please go to http://www.winstonsalemopen.com.
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