NY’s Noah Rubin Awarded Main Draw Wild Card Entry Into the U.S. Open

August 13, 2014 | By New York Tennis Magazine Staff
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The USTA has announced that 2014 USTA Boys 18s National Champion Noah Rubin, 2012 Olympian and former world number 43 Ryan Harrison, current world number 93 Tim Smyczek, top 17-year-old Jared Donaldson and 2014 NCAA singles champion Marcos Giron have been awarded men’s singles main draw wild card entries into the U.S. Open. Wayne Odesnik, Australia’s Bernard Tomic and France’sMichael Llodra will also receive U.S. Open main draw wild cards.

The 2014 U.S. Open will be played Aug. 25-Sept. 8 at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing, N.Y. Both the men’s and women’s singles champions this year will earn $3 million, with the ability to earn an additional $1 million in bonus prize money–for a total $4 million potential payout–based on their performances in the Emirates Airline U.S. Open Series.

Rubin, 18 years of age from Rockville Centre, N.Y., is the USTA Boys 18s National Champion. Rubin, a protégé of John McEnroe at the John McEnroe Tennis Academy in Randall’s Island, N.Y., also won the Wimbledon Junior Title in July, defeating Stefan Kozlov in the first all-American Wimbledon boys final since 1977.

Harrison, 22, of Shreveport, La., is currently ranked 164th. He competed for the U.S. in the 2012 London Olympics and reached a career-high ranking of 43rd in the world that summer. Overall, he has reached six ATP World Tour semifinals and has competed this year in both the Australian Open and Wimbledon, where he qualified.

Smyczek, 26, of Milwaukee, Wisc., is now ranked 92nd  after advancing to the third round of the Citi Open in Washington, D.C., and qualifying and reaching the second round of the ATP Masters 1000 Rogers Cup in Toronto. Smyczek advanced to the third round of the U.S. Open last year.

Donaldson, 17 of Chepachet, R.I., won 15 straight matches this June to capture three consecutive Futures Titles on the pro circuit. Donaldson was the top seed at this year’s USTA Boys 18s National Championships and trained with Roger Federer in Dubai last December.

Giron, 21 of Thousand Oaks, Calif., won the 2014 NCAA singles title as a junior at UCLA and turned pro shortly thereafter. He has won three USTA Pro Circuit Futures titles within the last year.

Odesnik, 28, of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., earned his wild card as the top American points earner at select USTA Pro Circuit events this summer, reaching the final of the $50,000 event in Binghamton, N.Y., and the semifinals of the $50,000 tournament in Lexington, Ky.

Tomic, 21, received his wild card through a reciprocal agreement with Tennis Australia, which will grant an American a wild card into the 2015 Australian Open. Tomic is a former world number 27 who won his second ATP World Tour singles title this July in Bogota, Colombia, where he won consecutive matches for the first time since undergoing double hip surgery in January.

Llodra, 34, of France, received his wild card through a reciprocal agreement with the French Tennis Federation. He is a former world 21 who has won five career ATP World Tour singles titles.

In addition to the eight U.S. Open men’s singles main draw wild cards, the USTA also announced the eight men who have been awarded wild card entries into the U.S. Open Qualifying Tournament, which will be held Aug. 19-22 at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. One additional U.S. Open qualifying wild card will be awarded to the winner of the 2014 U.S. Open National Playoffs–Men’s Championship, taking place Aug. 15-18 in New Haven, Conn. Players receiving U.S. Open qualifying wild cards are Collin Altamirano (18, Sacramento, Calif.), the 2014 USTA Boys 18s runner-up; Ernesto Escobedo (18 of West Covina, Calif.), who reached the quarterfinals or better at four straight pro circuit events this summer; Mitchell Frank (21 of Annandale, Va.), a top college singles player at the University of Virginia who has won 14 of his last 15 pro matches, capturing two USTA Pro Circuit Futures titles in the last month; 2014 Wimbledon junior semifinalist Taylor Fritz (17, Rancho Santa Fe, Calif.); 2014 Wimbledon and Australian Open junior finalist Stefan Kozlov (16, Pembroke Pines, Fla.); Mackenzie McDonald (19, Piedmont, Calif.), a 2014 NCAA singles quarterfinalist as a freshman at UCLA; 2014 Easter Bowl champion and former world No. 2 junior Francis Tiafoe (16, College Park, Md.); and France’s Mathias Bourgue, 20, who received his wild card through a reciprocal agreement with the French Tennis Federation.


New York Tennis Magazine Staff
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