week *35-36*: US Open (30/8-12/9)

[BelgiumDude]

US OPEN

1 Federer, Roger (SUI) 1
2 Roddick, Andy (USA) 2
3 Moya, Carlos (ESP) 4
4 Henman, Tim (GBR) 5
5 Nalbandian, David (ARG) 6
6 Ferrero, Juan Carlos (ESP) 7
7 Schuettler, Rainer (GER) 8
8 Hewitt, Lleyton (AUS) 9
9 Agassi, Andre (USA) 10
10 Gaudio, Gaston (ARG) 11
11 Grosjean, Sebastien (FRA) 12
12 Massu, Nicolas (CHI) 13
13 Srichaphan, Paradorn (THA) 14
14 Safin, Marat (RUS) 15
15 Chela, Juan Ignacio (ARG) 16
16 Pavel, Andrei (ROM) 17
17 Fish, Mardy (USA) 18
18 Gonzalez, Fernando (CHI) 19
19 Hrbaty, Dominik (SVK) 20
20 Spadea, Vincent (USA) 22
21 Novak, Jiri (CZE) 23
22 Kuerten, Gustavo (BRA) 24
23 Lopez, Feliciano (ESP) 25
24 Robredo, Tommy (ESP) 26
25 Ancic, Mario (CRO) 27
26 Dent, Taylor (USA) 28
27 Ljubicic, Ivan (CRO) 29
28 Kiefer, Nicolas (GER) 30
29 Zabaleta, Mariano (ARG) 31
30 Johansson, Joachim (SWE) 32
31 Mirnyi, Max (BLR) 33
32 Arazi, Hicham (MAR) 34
33 Malisse, Xavier (BEL) 35
34 Ginepri, Robby (USA) 36
35 Mayer, Florian (GER) 37
36 Bjorkman, Jonas (SWE) 38
37 Ferrer, David (ESP) 40
38 Verdasco, Fernando (ESP) 41
39 Canas, Guillermo (ARG) 42
40 Labadze, Irakli (GEO) 43
41 Soderling, Robin (SWE) 44
42 Blake, James (USA) 45
43 Youzhny, Mikhail (RUS) 46
44 Horna, Luis (PER) 47
45 Philippoussis, Mark (AUS) 48
46 Costa, Albert (ESP) 50
47 Davydenko, Nikolay (RUS) 51
48 Nadal, Rafael (ESP) 52
49 Clement, Arnaud (FRA) 53
50 Enqvist, Thomas (SWE) 54
51 Andreev, Igor (RUS) 55
52 Sargsian, Sargis (ARM) 56
53 Karlovic, Ivo (CRO) 57
54 Llodra, Michael (FRA) 58
55 Santoro, Fabrice (FRA) 59
56 Sanchez, David (ESP) 60
57 Martin, Alberto (ESP) 61
58 Melzer, Jurgen (AUT) 62
59 El Aynaoui, Younes (MOR) 63
60 Beck, Karol (SVK) 64
61 Volandri, Filippo (ITA) 65
62 Haas, Tommy (GER) 66
63 Escude, Nicolas (FRA) 67
64 Tursunov, Dmitry (RUS) 68
65 Saulnier, Cyril (FRA) 69
66 Ferreira, Wayne (RSA) 70
67 Stepanek, Radek (CZE) 71
68 Nieminen, Jarkko (FIN) 72
69 Benneteau, Julien (FRA) 73
70 Berdych, Tomas (CZE) 74
71 Gambill, Jan-Michael (USA) 75
72 Martin, Todd (USA) 76
73 Lee, Hyung-Taik (KOR) 77
74 Saretta, Flavio (BRA) 78
75 Carraz, Gregory (FRA) 79
76 van Scheppingen, Dennis (NED) 80
77 Kucera, Karol (SVK) 81
78 Popp, Alexander (GER) 82
79 Montanes, Albert (ESP) 83
80 Dupuis, Antony (FRA) 84
81 Hanescu, Victor (ROM) 85
82 Carlsen, Kenneth (DEN) 86
83 Patience, Olivier (FRA) 87
84 Hernandez, Oscar (ESP) 88
85 Rusedski, Greg (GBR) 89
86 Corretja, Alex (ESP) 90
87 Morrison, Jeff (USA) 91
88 Lu, Yen-Hsun (TPE) 92
89 Acasuso, Jose (ARG) 93
90 Koubek, Stefan (AUT) 94
91 Mutis, Olivier (FRA) 95
92 Mathieu, Paul-Henri (FRA) 96
93 Sluiter, Raemon (NED) 97
94 Johansson, Thomas (SWE) 98
95 Calatrava, Alex (ESP) 99
96 Rochus, Olivier (BEL) 100
97 Sanguinetti, Davide (ITA) 101
98 Arthurs, Wayne (AUS) 102
99 Monaco, Juan (ARG) 103
100 Elseneer, Gilles (BEL) 104
101 Ascione, Thierry (FRA) 105
102 Elsner, Daniel (GER) 106
103 Di Pasquale, Arnaud (FRA) @
104 Pless, Kristian DEN (DEN) @
105 (WC) Baker, Brian (USA)
106 (WC) Bogomolov Jr., Alex (USA)
107 (WC) Delic, Amer (USA)
108 (WC) Hippensteel, KJ (USA)
109 (WC) Jenkins, Scoville (USA)
110 (WC) Odesnik, Wayne (USA)
111 (WC) Ram, Rajeev (USA)
112 (WC) Reynolds, Bobby (USA)
113 QUALIFIER
114 QUALIFIER
115 QUALIFIER
116 QUALIFIER
117 QUALIFIER
118 QUALIFIER
119 QUALIFIER
120 QUALIFIER
121 QUALIFIER
122 QUALIFIER
123 QUALIFIER
124 QUALIFIER
125 QUALIFIER
126 QUALIFIER
127 QUALIFIER
128 QUALIFIER

[Nathaliia]

Thanks BelgiumDude Would you include the alternate list, then we can speculate who's out, who's in, who's next, who may get the wild card (I love it)?

[BelgiumDude]

I don't have access to the alternate lists Nathaliia.
I think we'll have to count on Jay for this.
greetz

[R. Jayakrishnan]

Thanks BelgiumDude for posting it ... The official lists ATP makes are in two columns and in alphabetical order for the main draw, so you save me a lot of time editing it by posting the lists .. That is why I wait for you to post that ...

Here are the USO Main draw ALTERNATES (top 20)

1 Monaco, Juan ARG 103
2 Elseneer, Gilles BEL 104
3 Di Pasquale, Arnaud FRA 104 (Inj.rnk)
4 Pless, Kristian DEN 104 (Inj.rnk)
5 Ascione, Thierry FRA 105
6 Elsner, Daniel GER 106
7 Muller, Gilles LUX 107
8 Gimelstob, Justin USA 107 (Inj.rnk)
9 Ramirez Hidalgo, Ruben ESP 108
10 Vliegen, Kristof BEL 109
11 Blanco, Galo ESP 110
12 Hernych, Jan CZE 111
13 Mantilla, Felix ESP 112
14 Lapentti, Nicolas ECU 113
15 Falla, Alejandro COL 114
16 Bogomolov Jr., Alex USA 115
17 Garcia, Adrian CHI 116
18 Burgsmuller, Lars GER 117
19 Ulihrach, Bohdan CZE 118
20 Weiner, Glenn USA 119 105
...
...

[Again, the ALT list also is in two columns and needs some editing, which is why I don't post the whole lists .. Anyway, the main draw cut does not drop much past 10 spots or so in the ALT list]

The QUALIFYING LIST will be out tomorrow some time ...

Jay

[R. Jayakrishnan]

Yeeek.... The initial cut for the US Open qualies is at #243 (Santopadre)!!! .. Are you kidding me? Has it ever been that high??

I will post the list soon, but basically everybody and his uncle is on the list!
Only one guy from the top-260 is going to the Bukhara challenger (#201 Michal Mertinak) and that is the reason. 22 guys in the top-260 are going to Manerbio in Italy.

I will post the qualifying list soon.

Jay

[R. Jayakrishnan]

(Qualifying list and its alternates are also there in the thread for week 35, with Long Island ATP, because that is when the USO qualifying is .. All the list updates will be done there ... We will list the initial entry list here)

INITIAL QUALIFYING LIST

Hernych, Jan CZE 77
Popp, Alexander GER 83
Starace, Potito ITA 95
Vliegen, Kristof BEL 102
Kohlschreiber, Philipp GER 104
Pless, Kristian DEN 104 (Inj.rnk)
Gimelstob, Justin USA 107 (Inj.rnk)
Bogomolov Alex Jr., USA 108
Elseneer, Gilles BEL 109
Reid, Todd AUS 110
Ascione, Thierry FRA 111
Garcia, Adrian CHI 113
Gasquet, Richard FRA 114
Falla, Alejandro COL 116
Mahut, Nicolas FRA 117
Ulihrach, Bohdan CZE 118
Weiner, Glenn USA 119
Muller, Gilles LUX 120
Garcia-Lopez, Guillermo ESP 121
Burgsmuller, Lars GER 124
Rosset, Marc SUI 125
Rochus, Christophe BEL 126
Peya, Alexander AUT 127
Mello, Ricardo BRA 129
Lopez, Marc ESP 131
Ventura, Santiago ESP 132
Kindlmann, Dieter GER 133
Heuberger, Ivo SUI 134
Moodie, Wesley RSA 135
Tipsarevic, Janko SCG 136
Golmard, Jerome FRA 137 (Inj.rnk)
Lapentti, Nicolas ECU 137
Okun, Noam ISR 138
Levy, Harel ISR 139
van Lottum, John NED 140
Vacek, Jan CZE 142
Tabara, Michal CZE 143
Baccanello, Paul AUS 144 (Inj.rnk)
Wessels, Peter NED 144
Kendrick, Robert USA 145
Kim, Kevin USA 146
Luczak, Peter AUS 149
Karanusic, Roko CRO 150
Goldstein, Paul USA 151
Jeanpierre, Julien FRA 152
Squillari, Franco ARG 153
Voltchkov, Vladimir BLR 154
Salzenstein, Jeff USA 155
Norman, Dick BEL 157
Wawrinka, Stanislas SUI 158
Pescosolido, Stefano ITA 159
Zib, Tomas CZE 161
Vanek, Jiri CZE 162
Kratochvil, Michel SUI 163
Bracciali, Daniele ITA 165
Minar, Ivo CZE 166
Chiudinelli, Marco SUI 167
Phau, Bjorn GER 168
Lapentti, Giovanni ECU 169
Sabau, Razvan ROM 170
Vico, Uros ITA 171
Guzman, Juan-Pablo ARG 172
Wang, Yeu-Tzuoo TPE 173
Mamiit, Cecil USA 174
Seppi, Andreas ITA 176
Roitman, Sergio ARG 177
Cakl, Tomas CZE 178
Andersen, Jan Frode NOR 179
Parmar, Arvind GBR 181
Pequery, Jean-Michel FRA 183
Koellerer, Daniel AUT 184
Delgado, Ramon PAR 185
De Voest, Rik RSA 187
Kunitsyn, Igor RUS 188
Waske, Alexander GER 190
Suzuki, Takao JPN 191
Armando, Hugo USA 192
Qureshi, Aisam-Ul-Haq PAK 193
Roger-Vasselin, Edouard FRA 194
Berrer, Michael GER 195
Udomchoke, Danai THA 196
Niemeyer, Frederic CAN 197
Larose, Simon CAN 198
Delfino, Mariano ARG 200
Navarro Past Ivan, ESP 202
Berlocq, Carlos ARG 203
Ferreiro, Franco BRA 204
Rehnquist, Bjorn SWE 205
Faurel, Jean-Christophe FRA 206
Dell'Acqua, Massimo ITA 207
Vemic, Dusan SCG 209
Simon, Gilles FRA 210
Taino, Eric USA 212
Delgado, Jamie GBR 213
Whitehouse, Wesley RSA 214
Serra, Florent FRA 215
Brzezicki, Juan Pablo ARG 217
Knowle, Julian AUT 219
Adaktusson, Jacob SWE 220
Dancevic, Frank CAN 221
Bogdanovic, Alex GBR 222
Luzzi, Federico ITA 223
Scherrer, Jean-Claude SUI 225
Tsonga, Jo-Wilfried FRA 226
Gicquel, Marc FRA 227
Baghdatis, Marcos CYP 228
Baker, Brian USA 229
Sa, Andre BRA 230
Hemmes Fred Jr., NED 231
Draper, Scott AUS 232
Miranda, Ivan PER 234
Marray, Jonathan GBR 235
Boeker, Matias USA 236
Navarro, Salvador ESP 237
Economidis, Konstantinos GRE 238
Vahaly, Brian USA 239
Hippensteel, KJ USA 240
Delic, Amer USA 242
Santopadre, Vincenzo ITA 243

119 names. 9 Wildcard spots in the qualifying draw.

Jay

[R. Jayakrishnan]

QUALIFYING ALTERNATES LIST (top names)

1. Browne, Federico ARG 244
2. Veronelli, Diego ARG 246
3. Soares, Bruno BRA 247
4. Prodon, Eric FRA 248
5. Russell, Michael USA 249
6. Gamonal, Hermes CHI 252
7. Gonzalez King, Ignacio ARG 253
8. Enev, Todor BUL 254
9. Bruthans, Victor SVK 256
10. Agaev, Emin AZE 258
11. Hernandez, Alejandro MEX 259
12. Massa, Edgardo ARG 262
13. Bardoczky, Kornel HUN 263
14. Stoppini, Andrea ITA 264
15. Ketola, Tuomas FIN 265
16. Serrano, Oscar ESP 268
17. Gonzalez, Santiago MEX 269
18. Tuksar, Sasa CRO 270
19. Zovko, Lovro CRO 271
20. Childs, Lee GBR 273
21. Prpic, Filip SWE 274
22. Silva, Julio BRA 275
23. Kralert, Petr CZE 276
24. Pedroso, Andres USA 278
25. Svarc, Ladislav SVK 279
26. Todero, Nicolas ARG 281
27. Mankad, Harsh IND 282
28. Daniel, Marcos BRA 283
29. Cermak, Frantisek CZE 284
30. Dellatorre, Andres ARG 285
followed by
Villagran, Sarstrand, Iwami, Minar, Lorenzi, Motomura,
Kushev, Guccione, Fleishman, M.Stepanek, Moyano, Chen ...

Ti Chen at #300. I suspect the qualifying draw would not fall below about #280

Jay

[R. Jayakrishnan]

Changed the title from "ATP US Open" to "US Open" .. Technically, US Open is not an ATP event. It is an ITF event, which has agreed to select playersd according to ATP's list with ATP agreeing to give points to the players for playing there....

Jay

[Fee]

Jay, how can A Popp be on the qualie list if he's already on the direct entry list? Is that a boo boo?

[R. Jayakrishnan]

Good catch! .. I have NO idea how that happened, but that is how it is listed. Must be some small mistake, to be corrected later. Perhaps the other Popp (Torsten Popp) had entered the qualies and they took him as Alexander. Cool, one more spot will get cleared in the qualies .. I am sure they will correct it later.

Jay

[10sfan]

I know who got one of the wildcards into the US open. I'ts a junior named Alex Kuznetsov ( I think thats how you spell his name). He's 17 I think.

[R. Jayakrishnan]

Kuznetsov is a deserving wildcard. Ranked 4th in world junior rankings, though behind #2 brendon Evans of USA. I assume Brendon also will get a wildcard.

Is it to the main draw or the qualifying? The juniors are definitely better off playing the qualies than the main draw.

Jay

[R. Jayakrishnan]

By the way, what is up with the US Open website. Take alook -- http://www.usopen.org

Are they not going to have IBM run the website like in the past? .. USTA has taken over? ..

Yuck, I find crap like "Restaurants on Site" on the front page. Like people who check the website care for that... It is a long topic, about how people who run tennis seem to forget the large number of fans (and potential fans) and only know of the people who actually go to the venue (that too, the ones who stick to the center court and know only about the Roddicks and Agassis out there).

My thesis for a long time has been that the reason why tennis suffers (and why ESPN says nobody cares/knows enough about tennis for them to even put on a live match on TV) is because the tennis administrators are clueless. The tennis bigwigs who are immersed in it day after day are more in tune with the people who go to the events than the ones who never do. They have no clue about the sports fans who would read tennis in a newspaper article or website if they are given anything to look for (ever seen any useful tennis stats published in newspapers? - compare that with baseball or basketball). The internet gave Tennis a fabulous opportunity for abouty 8 years now, to start showing the depth of the game, with proper stats and details that sports fans can follow - something they could never do with TV and newspapers not under their control, because of the chicken-and-egg situation of them saying it doesn;t sell. Tennis authorities have wasted that opportunity with internet for about a decade already. SteveG has done more for tennis popularity than ALL of tennis administration combined, because he realized the vacuum way back. ATP, ITF, USTA, etc have still not understood it.

One big reason why sports fans follow sports even if they cannot watch it, is that they still have something to look forward to, day after day, year after year. Somebody to follow; somebody to give them that satisfaction of achievements that they themselves could never attain. Tennis never caters to those sports fans. If you do not care for that big group of potentials fans at large, you will never make tennis popular like many other big sports out there.

Will you ever see a Europen Cup football website, or that talks about restuarants at the venues?? Or Arthur Ashe kids day ?? Inclement weather policy ?? ...

Not a word on the web site about the entry list, qualifying list, the lesser players who will play there from the Belaruses, Taiwans, Norways and Pakistans out there. There are tennis fans in all those countries who would get a bit more into tennis if they know that an Aisam Qureshi or a Jan Frode Anderson is going there for qualies. Hell, most of the sports fans don't know about stuff like qualifying rounds in tennis. Heck, the causal "netizen" sports fan from Denver or Atlanta in the US would not find anything of interest to get a bit wound up about the upcoming US Open ("Oh, whoop-dee-doo, there is Grilled Salmon Salad at the Patio Cafe at the US Open .. I am going to go back and check that website again!!!") .. There are tennis fans everywhere, but the guys who run tennis have no clue about how to get to them. DAMNIT, wake up and smell the coffeee, tennis mandarins!

Anyway, back to the point ... HORROR!! -- -The USTA may be running this year's website in-house?? WHAT??

I hope the IBM website will be launched soon. Not that they were doing all the things I would like a website to do, but they did provide a certain level of comfortable and timely information related to tennis and match updates for years at their grand slam sites that the "netizen" tennis fan has got used to (as the millions of hits from around the world at grand slam sites would show).

Frustrating to see this fabulous sport being run so shoddily. I dream of a future when two Americans in a bar would try to show of their knowledge about tennis with something like "Who was the last guy who stayed in the top-20 in doubles and top-100 in singles for 10 years", just like they would reel out the 1940 Yankees stories (whom not even their grandfathers saw on TV or at the Yankee stadium).... But that is a pipe-dream the way tennis is run.

Jay

[R. Jayakrishnan]

.. Oh, and there is nothing more infuriating for a fan than to go to these tennis websites and find that the biggest fonts on the front pages are reserved for stuff like, "GET THE OFFICIAL GEAR" .. They think we all are fools? ..

How myopic can you get, when you are trying to make money off selling a few t-shirts, in a sport that is the largest individual athletic sports played by most countries and people in the world?

Jay

[Fee]

hmmm, Mark Miles is rumored to be stepping down from the head of the ATP some time in the next 12 months. Wayne Ferreira is retiring after the US Open...

hmmmm.....

[R. Jayakrishnan]

Actually I prefer SteveG appointed as the first Tennis Commissioner !!



Jay

[10sfan]

Not sure if Alex's wildcard is main or qualifying. I suspect main draw ,because he pulled out of Kalamazoo( National Hard Courts) Some of the guys running the tourny at the Zoo ,said He got a wildcard into the US Open. He's done well this year, the USTA has made sure of that! Free coaching and travel most of the time from what is being said around the tournaments, and also wild cards into the futures.

[PatatRiek]

By the way, what is up with the US Open website. Take alook -- http://www.usopen.org

hopefully IBM will take it over soonish

[nitsansh]

I dream of a future when two Americans in a bar would try to show of their knowledge about tennis with something like "Who was the last guy who stayed in the top-20 in doubles and top-100 in singles for 10 years"

Jonas Bjorkman, I guess...

[R. Jayakrishnan]

Yes, of course .. Bjorkman .. How many in the world know that though .. helkl, how many in Sweden know that? ... Isn't that sad?

Jay

[nitsansh]

and how about Santoro?

[R. Jayakrishnan]

MAIN DRAW:

OUT - Boutter, Draper
IN - Monaco, Elseneer
NEXT - DiPasquale, Pless, Ascione ...

Jay

[daryl]

Coria is out of US Open because of his surgery.

[R. Jayakrishnan]

I guess we have to wait till he officially withdraws, but yeah, Coria won't be playing USO.

Jay

[R. Jayakrishnan]

OUT- Coria, as expected.
IN: DiPasquale
NEXT: Pless, Ascione, Elsner, Muller ..

Jay

[Rob & Stephen]

How right Jay is for saying that Steve hould be the next boss of the ATP. They need somebody who will be interested in all faces of the game, not just the big business side (like Miles). I don't think that Wayne Ferreira could get it - he's ruffled a few too many feathers in his day to get promoted to this job.
By the way, is Alex Kuznetsov (USA) any relation to Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS), cause if I read Russian language protocols on familial names then this should be so.
I thought Scott Draper was still injured, and probably would not make it back until the end of year challengers in Australia.

[Steve G]

To get a little more obscure (I always do)
I wonder if a player in Russia F1, Alexander Krasonoutsky, is related to Lina Krasnoutskaya.

[Rob & Stephen]

Again I could be very wrong here but going by their names Krasnoroutskaya should be Krasnoroutsky's mother or at least cousin, assuming that their related at all as their name is a bit like Volkov (and Volkovska, Volkovskaya, Volkovsky etc.) in Russia as in its well used but not quite at the top of the list.
Could Roman Abramovich - very rich Russian, owner of Chelsea and CSKA Moscow football clubs - and Omer Abramovich (ISR) be brothers / cousins?
This could go on and on and on . . . . . . . .
Rob

[Tennis724]

Jay, I have to say that I agree with everything you said about the US OPEN site. I've only visited it once and I could only hope that what I was seeing was preliminary till the tournament got closer.

The Roland Garros site for this year wasn't pretty till just before the quallies began so I'm hoping for the same from the US OPEN. Probably wishful thinking though.

So, do we know when the WCs will be officially announced? A side from the usual suspect, I'm hoping for Brendan Evans to get one. I saw Kuznetsov play as a WC in the Torrance Challenger last October. His game has most likely improved since then. It would be interesting to see if he can do anything with a WC.

[R. Jayakrishnan]

Update -

No change in the entry list; so it is still

NEXT: Pless, Ascione, Elsner, Muller ..

Jay

[R. Jayakrishnan]

Update -

No change in the entry list.

Jay

[R. Jayakrishnan]

Phew ... That was scary! (see my post abogve about how the USOpen website looked )

IBM is back running the website - and now it is listed as " © Copyright IBM Corp., United States Tennis Association 1995, 2004" .. http://www.usopen.org looks fine, and has all the usual trimmings.

The restaurants on site and all that crap is gone from the front page now. That ugly "Get the Official Gear" stuff is still there, though.

Jay

[BelgiumDude]

The USTA today announced that Brian Baker (Nashville, Tenn.) Alex Bogomolov, Jr. (Miami), Amer Delic (Jacksonville, Fla.), KJ Hippensteel (Roanoke, Va.), Scoville Jenkins (Atlanta), Wayne Odesnik (Weston, Fla.), Rajeev Ram (Carmel, Ind.) and Bobby Reynolds (Acworth, Ga.) have been awarded men's singles main draw wild card entries into the 2004 US Open Tennis Championships, which will be played August 30 - September 12 at the USTA National Tennis Center in Flushing, N.Y. The US Open Men's Singles Championship is presented by Lincoln Mercury

[Fee]

Yay for Alex! 8)

Don't know much about the rest, but I've seen Brian Baker once or twice and I wonder if he might have been better off playing college tennis for a year or two. Hard to say I guess.

[R. Jayakrishnan]

US OPen Main draw list

OUT: Calleri
IN: Pless
NEXT: Ascione. Elsner, Muller, Gimelstob...

Jay

[dryeagle]

Of the wildcards, the highest ranked of them is Bogomolov, then Baker. I counted 8 Americans who were ranked higher than Baker but didn't make the main draw and weren't awarded wildcards - Gimelstob, Weiner, Kendrick, Kim, Goldstein, Salzenstein, Mamiit and Taino.

This does not make any sense to me. Can anybody explain?

[Fee]

Explain the reasoning of the USTA? That's more futile than trying to explain the price of an airline ticket...

Anyway, Scoville Jenkins got his because he won the 18's at Kalamazoo and that winner always gets a USO wildcard.

Some of the 8 players that you listed as not getting WC's have been given them before (twice I think), have been on the tour for a number of years, and are considered 'old' or 'veterans' or whatever, so maybe that's why they don't get them. Brian Baker is 19 years old (or about to be) and a 'young up and comer' I guess. Personally, I'm just not that impressed with him for some reason. I don't know enough about the others to offer arguments pro/con, but perhaps someone else here does. It could be the influence of their agents or their personal relationships with the USTA (especially if they played lots of junior tournies and came up through the system).

[Guest]

Of the wildcards, the highest ranked of them is Bogomolov, then Baker. I counted 8 Americans who were ranked higher than Baker but didn't make the main draw and weren't awarded wildcards - Gimelstob, Weiner, Kendrick, Kim, Goldstein, Salzenstein, Mamiit and Taino.

This does not make any sense to me. Can anybody explain?

My thoughts exactly,but as Fiona says trying to work out how the USTA thinks is futile.

These 8 players have all come up through the Juniors,they've all been dedicated American players since they were 10 yearolds......sure they're not youngsters,but they're all travelling Pro's and their age should not be a factor.

[Guest]

Since Alex K pulled out of the tourney at the Zoo (which he would have won), I figured he would definitely have received a WC for the main draw at the US Open. However, he got screwed and was just given a WC into the qualies.

As for the other main draw WCs, they were all good choices. Even though guys like Mammit, Weiner, Kendrick, Gimelstob, Kim, and Taino are ranked higher, I think the USTA did the right thing by giving up on those guys. They have had their chances and don't have any more promise. The USTA is usually good about giving WCs to players who can use the experience (except when they give them to guys like Jan Michael Gambill who is awful).

[Guest]

hh

[Guest]

Alex Kuznetsov isn't related to Kuznetsova. But he definitely deserved the wildcard, even though it was to qualifying only because he is that best out of all the players who got the qualifying wildcards.

[Guest]

Even though guys like Mammit, Weiner, Kendrick, Gimelstob, Kim, and Taino are ranked higher, I think the USTA did the right thing by giving up on those guys. They have had their chances and don't have any more promise.

It's not about promise,it's about the fact that these guys are Pros.
They earn their living by playing tennis.

Some of them are very close to breaking into the Top 100 for the first time,and that means a contract worth about $250,000 a year.
In the end it's all about money.

[PatatRiek]

Schalken & Verkerk will not play the US open, Jay will confirm that one of these days

[R. Jayakrishnan]

Happy to oblige, partly ...

US Open Main Draw:

OUT: Verkerk
IN: Ascione
NEXT: D.Elsner, Muller, Gimelstob, Ramirez-Hidalgo

Jay

[R. Jayakrishnan]

Update on the US Open main draw:

No changes

Schalken and others have not officially withdrawn yet.

Jay

[PatatRiek]

Schalken and others have not officially withdrawn yet.

i'm sure it's a matter of time...schalken actually announced that he stops playing this year, he'll be back in 2005

[R. Jayakrishnan]

Update: (As expected)

OUT: Schalken
IN: Elsner
NEXT: Muller, Gimelstob, Ramiraz-Hidalgo. Vliegen, Blanco

Jay

[CrazyDiamond]

For those of you American members of this forum who would like to see what your No 12 ranked player looks like,here you go.

[R. Jayakrishnan]

Hey, at least they have a Bio page for the 12th best American (Weiner) at the USO site. The 10th American (Morrison) does not even have a page. 11th, Bogomolov, also does not have a picture but he has a page ...

Jay

[Toolazytologin]

Unbelievable.

I'd love to see what Alex Bogomolov looks like,but I cant because the USTA doesn't take the time to find a pic.