RYAN SWEETING GETS A WILDCARD INTO QUALIES (FORMER EVENT CHAMPION IN 2011) WHILE TIPSAREVIC GETS THE MAINDRAW WILD CARD

Written by: Staff on 31st March 2015

RYAN SWEETING GETS A WILDCARD INTO QUALIES (FORMER EVENT CHAMPION IN 2011) WHILE TIPSAREVIC GETS THE MAINDRAW WILD CARD

epa03283732 Ryan Sweeting of the US returns to Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia during their second round match for the Wimbledon Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis Club, in London, Britain, 27 June 2012. EPA/GERRY PENNY |

Tipsarevic Awarded Wild Card

Former Champ Sweeting Gets Qualifying Wild Card

Is that fair ? both guys want their lives and careers back on track. Ryan has been working hard and laying as low as the hubby of an American TV star Kaley Cuoco ….

Janko Tipsarevic will make his return to singles competition on the ATP World Tour at River Oaks after accepting a wild card for next week’s Fayez Sarofim & Co. U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championship.

The tournament has also awarded a qualifying wild card to 2011 champion Ryan Sweeting. Is that Fair ? Barely. …

Tipsarevic, who has been ranked as high as No. 8 on the Emirates ATP Rankings, will be playing his first singles match since the end of the 2013 season. He was sidelined with fibromatosis, a benign soft tissue tumor, on his left foot that required two surgeries during 2014.

“I am very excited,” Tipsarevic said. “It’s been a long and painful 17 months and I cannot wait to get my career and life back on track.”

Tipsarevic owns four career titles and has reached the final on seven other occasions. He advanced to the fourth round at the 2013 US Open, but went just 2-6 through the fall, retiring after just three games from the last singles match he’s played – at Valencia in October 2013.

To begin his comeback, Tipsarevic teamed with World No. 1 and fellow Serb Novak Djokovic to play doubles last week at the Miami Open.

Tipsarevic joins a singles field that already boasts 13 players in the Top 50 of the Emirates ATP Rankings.

Sweeting is also returning to action after an extended absence due to injury. Following a pair of Challenger appearances this year, he will be playing qualifying at a Tour-level event for the first time since March 2013.

In 2011, Sweeting won his lone career title at River Oaks, downing Kei Nishikori in the final. He has seen limited action in the past two years while battling a shoulder injury.

Sweeting’s participation will mark the fourth time in the past five years that a past champion has played qualifying. Ivo Karlovic, the 2007 winner, played qualifying in 2011 and 2013, while 2004 champion Tommy Haas played qualifying in 2012.

The opening two rounds of qualifying on Saturday and Sunday, April 4-5, are free for spectators. Main draw play will begin April 6.

Editors note : former event champions deserve WILDCARDS. Not qualies WILDCARDS. And champions from the past year deserve Maindraw exemptions if their rankings have dropped. Jan -Michael Gambill was owed one for Scottsdale. As was Wayne Arthur’s in Las Vegas.

River Oaks Country Club is hosting a professional tournament for the 81st time when the 2015 Fayez Sarofim & Co. U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championship is held April 6-12. River Oaks first hosted its own tournament, The River Oaks International, in 1931, and its roster of former champions includes Jack Kramer, Tony Trabert, Rod Laver, Roy Emerson, Ken Rosewall, Ivan Lendl, Guillermo Vilas and James Blake. Houston is the 23rd city to host the U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championship. The tournament came to Houston in 2001, and has been hosted at River Oaks since 2009. Started in 1910 by the USTA, the 2015 tournament is the 105th competition for the Clay Court Championship. More information is available at www.usmensclaycourt.com

Topics: Janko Tipsarevic, Ryan Sweeting, Tennis News, Wildcard

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10sBalls_com says:

March 31, 2015 at 8:23 am

RYAN SWEETING GETS A WILDCARD INTO QUALIES(FORMER EVENT CHAMPION IN 2011) WHILE TIPSAREVIC GETS THE MAINDRAW WILDCARD http://t.co/n4fw76dba0