On Tuesday, June 28, The Atlanta Open Tennis Tournament held their annual media day to announce their playing field along with many other awesome surprises. The tournament takes place July 23-31 at Atlantic Station. This tournament is an ATP Tour 250 Series and part of the US Open Series.
Tournament Director Eddie Gonzalez stated the following facts about the Atlanta Open:
“We are the only Men’s tournament in the World that kicks off the action with a Women’s Exhibition: having Coco Gauff and Leylah Fernandez play this year”. This match, delivered by UPS, will take place Sunday, July 24th, and to our surprise, it was also announced that Coco will play another match on Monday, July 25th, against Sophia Kenin. Due to an injury suffered at the French Open, Fernandez was in attendance at the Media Day to discuss her career and share with fans and media in attendance at the recently revamped Atlantic Green area in Atlantic Station.
“We are the only ATP event that has a dedicated College Night, in which we give one of our wildcards to a College player and their dream gets to come true” This year the Wildcard was awarded to Georgia Tech’s Andres Martin, who also attended the Media with fellow Yellowjacket Cheerleaders and Mascot.
“We are the only tournament in the World that has a dedicated Stem Program, during the whole course of the week of the tournament. That is something we started last year for our youth because the last two years our youth had to learn virtually.” In addition to the UPS Unstoppable Stem Diversity Program, the tournament held a Diversity Forum last week, ironically one day after Juneteenth. Gonzalez and his team clearly make an effort to open the game of tennis to all people which is very much the true spirit and culture in Atlanta.
The players announced for this year’s 2022 Singles draw include six-time champion and former UGA Bulldog John Isner. If Isner is to clinch his 7th title, he will be facing a very strong player field. The field includes former #1 and three-time Grand Slam Champion Andy Murray, along with 2016 Atlanta Open Champion Nick Kyrgios. Here is a list of other top-ranked players committed to competing:
Cameron Norrie – Great Britain – Current Singles Ranking 12
Taylor Fritz – United States – Current Singles Ranking 14
Reilly Opelka – United States – Current Singles Ranking 18
John Isner – United States – Current Singles Ranking 24
Alex de Minaur – Australia – Current Singles Ranking 27
Francis Tiafoe – United States – Current Singles Ranking 28
Miomar Kechmanovic – Serbia – Current Singles Ranking 30
Tommy Paul – United States – Current Singles Ranking 32
Jenson Brooksby – United States – Current Singles Ranking 34
Nick Kyrgios – Australia – Current Singles Ranking 40
Maxime Cressy – United States – Current Singles Ranking 45
Sebastian Korda – United States – Current Singles Ranking 46
Andy Murray – Great Britain – Current Singles Ranking 52
Andres Martin – United States – Wildcard Entry
Kei Nishikori – Japan – Wildcard Entry Current Singles Ranking 114
For more information and tickets visit www.atlantaopentennis.com
-Desmond McLennon
Photo: Eli Hirshberg
THE PEACH REVIEW® 