Final Men’s Field Set for USTA Aussie Open Wild Card Dec. 16-18

Written by: Staff on 27th November 2011

Final Men’s Field Set for USTA Aussie Open Wild Card Dec. 16-18 |

The final men’s field has been announced for the 2011 Kia Australian Open Wild Card Playoffs, to be held Dec. 16-18, at the Racquet Club of the South, a USTA Certified Regional Training Center in Atlanta.

Joining the three players named earlier – Robby Ginepri, Denis Kudla and Jack – will be former UCLA star Daniel Kosakowski, Jesse Levine, reigning NCAA singles champion from USC Steve Johnson, Bobby Reynolds and Rhyne Williams.

On Friday night, a World Team Tennis exhibition will be held with USTA director of player development Patrick McEnroe and US Davis Cup captain Jim Courier to be the coaches.

The USTA and Tennis Australia have a reciprocal agreement in which men’s and women’s singles main draw wild cards into the 2011 US Open and the 2012 Australian Open are exchanged.

To learn more about the event go to: http://www.australianwildcard.com/

Melanie Oudin was among eight women selected to play in the event. Oudin, of Marietta, Ga., in 2009 became the youngest American to reach the quarterfinals at the US Open since Serena Williams in 1999, and who helped lead the U.S. to back-to-back Fed Cup finals in 2009-10.

Jamie Hampton (Auburn, Ala.), Alison Riske (McMurray, Pa.), Coco Vandeweghe (Rancho Santa Fe, Calif.), Gail Brodsky (Brooklyn, N.Y.), Madison Keys (Boca Raton, Fla.), Grace Min (Norcross, Ga.) and 15-year-old Taylor Townsend (Stockbridge, Fla.) are the other women selected to play.

Ryan Harrison and Lauren Davis won the 2010 playoffs to earn wild cards into the 2011 Australian Open.

Local Atlanta-area residents Donald Young and Irina Falconi, who both competed in the event last year, will be on hand during the week helping promote the event.