Winston-Salem Open Players Compete in 2012 Olympics
30 Winston-Salem Open players will be playing in this year’s Olympic Games
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (JULY 25, 2012) – A total of 30 players who have committed to playing in the Winston-Salem Open are in the Olympics’ 64-man tennis single’s field, and a handful more are playing doubles in London.
All of the Winston-Salem Open’s main attractions are playing in the Olympics, including world No. 6 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France, defending champion and world No. 11 John Isner of the United States, and former world No. 1 Andy Roddick of the U.S. Isner and Roddick are teaming up to compete in doubles matches as well.
The number of Winston-Salem Open players in the Olympics could increase since tournament director Bill Oakes still has three wildcards in his pocket, which he has saved specifically because of the Olympics.
“I think this underscores what we have said all along about this year’s Winston-Salem Open being a very international field and being a very deep and talented field,” Oakes said.
Others who have committed to the Winston-Salem Open who are in the Olympics singles draw: Carlos Berlocq (Argentina); Jurgen Melzer (Austria); David Goffin and Steve Darcis (Belgium); Tomasz bellucci (Brazil); Lu Yen-Hsun (Chinese Taipei); Santiago Giraldo and Alejandro Falla (Colombia); Ivo Karlovic (Croatia); Marcos Baghdatis (Cyprus); Jarkko Nieminen (Finland); Go Soeda and Tatsuma Ito (Japan); Mikhail Kukushkin (Kazakhstan); Gilles Muller (Luxembourg); Robin Haase (Netherlands); Lukasz Kubot (Poland); Alex Bogomolov Jr. and Nikolay Davydenko (Russia); Viktor Troicki (Serbia); Lukas Lacko and Martin Klizan (Slovak Republic); Blaz Kavcic (Slovenia); Feliciano Lopez (Spain); Malek Jaziri (Tunisia); Donald Young (USA); and Denis Istomin (Uzbekistan).
Defending Winston-Salem Open doubles champs Jonathan Erlich and Andy Ram (Israel) will participate in doubles, and three other top Winston-Salem Open draws won’t play singles but will play doubles; Marcel Granollers (Spain) and Marc Lopez; 2011 Winston-Salem Open runner-up Julien Benneteau (France) with Richard Gasquet; and Michael Llodra (France) with Tsonga.
The London Olympics begin with Opening Ceremonies on July 27, and the tennis competition will be held at Wimbledon from July 28-Aug. 5.
About the Winston-Salem Open
The Winston-Salem Open, an ATP World Tour 250 event with a total purse of $625,000, will take place from August 18-25, 2012, with qualifying set for August 18. The tournament will be the final men’s event of the Emirates Airline US Open Series. For more information on the 2012 Winston-Salem Open, please go to www.winstonsalemopen.com.
About the Emirates Airline US Open Series
Now in its ninth season, the Emirates Airline US Open Series continues to serve as a true regular season of hard court tennis, linking 10 summer tournaments to the US Open. Fans follow the action throughout the summer during national broadcast coverage while players battle for $40 million, including a chance for bonus prize money at the US Open. The Series collectively reached a U.S. television audience of 39 million and drew more than 800,000 on-site fans in 2011. In 2012, Emirates Airline became the title sponsor of the Series, as well as the official airline of the US Open. The Emirates Airline US Open Series is also supported by sponsors American Express, Chase, Citizen Watch Company, Esurance, Evian and Gatorade.
Americans Mardy Fish and Serena Williams swept the 2011 Emirates Airline US Open Series men’s and women’s titles. In 2007, Roger Federer collected the biggest paycheck in tennis history – $2.4 million – for winning the US Open and the Emirates Airline US Open Series. In 2005, Kim Clijsters also captured both the US Open and the Series, winning $2.2 million – the largest purse in women’s sports history – and equaled that amount in 2010, winning the US Open and finishing the Emirates Airline US Open Series in second place.
