Thursday was a typical wild card deadline day for New Haven Open tournament director Anne Worcester.
Late
Wednesday afternoon, Worcester had two wild cards left for the
tournament, which starts with qualifying Friday. The deadline was
Thursday at 4 p.m. And she wasn't sure when two of the players she
wanted to play in New Haven — French Open winner Li Na and world No. 9 Marion Bartoli
— were playing their third-round matches Thursday in Cincinnati. The
outcomes would likely determine whether or not they came to New Haven.
But when Samantha Stosur beat Serena Williams
Wednesday and had to set up a matchup with Li Thursday, things fell
into place. Both matches started at 11 a.m. (if Williams had played Li,
that match likely would have been later). Both Li and Bartoli lost in
three sets. And within five minutes of each other, both confirmed — an
hour before the deadline — that they would accept wild cards for New
Haven.
"This year was the longest wait for the biggest result," Worcester said.
"We got really lucky. Three weeks ago, none of them had any interest in
playing because they were all going to go deep in Toronto and
Cincinnati.
"This is such a critical year for the tournament so it's a good year
to be lucky. We have five new sponsors we're trying to impress."
She
had been trying to get Li to return to the tournament for the first
time since 2006, when Li was ranked 25th in the world and lost in the
second round. But Li didn't want to play before the U.S. Open.
Now, as the fifth-ranked player in the world and the first Asian player
to win a major, Li is a sensation in China and her acceptance was a
coup for Worcester.
Bartoli is a regular at New Haven, having played there seven times previously.
Worcester also went after Venus Williams, who said Wednesday she wouldn't return to New Haven, where she won four times. No. 3 Kim Clijsters told New Haven no last week and No. 6 Petra Kvitova declined Wednesday.
Along
with the first round of qualifying for the WTA event Friday, the U.S.
Open National Playoff Championships continue in New Haven with
quarterfinals in men's and women's singles. The finals will be Sunday.
Jelena Jankovic,
a former world No. 1 player, accepted a wild card into the New Haven
Open, which will begin Friday with qualifying matches at the Connecticut
Tennis Center.
Jankovic, who is ranked No. 14, recently lost in
the first round at Toronto. She has 12 WTA titles, with the most recent
coming last year with a victory over current No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki at Indian Wells. Jankovic was the top player in the world in 2008, when she advanced to the finals of the U.S. Open and lost to Serena Williams.
This will be her third time playing in New Haven, where she reached the third round in 2005.
"We are delighted to welcome Jelena Jankovic, a former
world No. 1 player with a wonderful, fan-friendly personality, to the
New Haven Open," tournament director Anne Worcester said in a statement.
"There have only been 20 players in history that have reached the No. 1
ranking, so that speaks to her incredible talent."
There are two wild cards left for the main draw, which
begins Sunday. The first was given to Christina McHale, a rising
American ranked No. 76 who upset Wozniacki, 6-4, 7-5 Wednesday in the
second round at Cincinnati.
Wozniacki, the three-time defending
New Haven champion, has been struggling lately, also losing her first
match in Toronto the week before.
The U.S. Open National Playoff
Championship, which will send the winning men's and women's singles
player into the U.S. Open qualifying round, will start at the
Connecticut Tennis Center Thursday.
NEW HAVEN — The fact that the New Haven Open is now a women's-only
tennis tournament this year has been well-documented since last fall
when the announcement was made.
But some people have e-mailed
tournament director Anne Worcester and asked why are there men's
matches scheduled this weekend at the Connecticut Tennis Center?
"I've
gotten five e-mails last week from people saying you need to update
your website — it still says that men are coming," Worcester said last
week. "We did such a good job of promoting the fact that the new face of
tennis in New Haven is women's, only with all these extra bells and
whistles … and now we have to explain this is a WTA event and the U.S. Open national playoffs."
While the qualifying and first-round matches for the New Haven Open
women's event are going on this weekend, the tournament will also be
hosting the U.S. Open national playoff championship.
Sixteen men and sixteen women will vie for a singles entry into the
U.S. Open qualifying round, which starts next week in New York. There
will also be a new mixed doubles tournament, which will be played Aug.
24-27. The winning mixed doubles team will get an entry into the U.S.
Open's main draw.
Blake Strode of Cary, N.C., won the inaugural
men's playoff event last year and went to the U.S. Open, where he won a
first-round qualifying match but lost in the second round. Strode, who
was an All-American at Arkansas, deferred going to Harvard Law School
in 2009 to play professionally. He won the New England regional this
year to qualify for the playoffs and is also the second seed in the
mixed doubles with Whitney Jones.
"It was a great experience,"
said Strode, 24, of last year's national playoffs. "It was a big
incentive to be able to play in the Open."
Last year, between the
men's and women's tournaments, the Pilot Pen had about 160 matches. This
year, with the addition of the U.S. Open playoffs, there will be 120
matches.
The event was added to the tournament after Worcester got
a phone call in January from Jeff Ryan, the director of USTA team
competitions.
"He contacted me and said what if we would be able
to bring this women's and men's national playoff championships to one
place?" Worcester said. "Last year, it was in Stanford for the women and Atlanta for the men. What if we were able to bring it to one place and that one place was New Haven?"
Worcester didn't take long to think about it before she agreed.
"I
think the USTA looked at this tournament's history with promoting the
rising stars of tomorrow," she said. "I think they knew we would not put
this event on the back courts; we would put it on stadium court, which
we are."
The first round of singles is Thursday and is free to
the public. The WTA qualifying matches don't start until Friday. The
U.S. Open playoff finals will be Sunday on stadium court. Mixed doubles
start Aug. 24 and the final will be Aug. 27 on stadium court before the
New Haven Open championship match.
Like The Tournament
Each day starting Wednesday, fans who "Like" the New Haven Open Facebook
page will be eligible to win two tickets to the finals. … The USTA and
the New Haven Open unveiled the refurbished tennis courts at Wilbur
Cross High Tuesday, part of the USTA's Olympus U.S. Open Series Legacy
program.
22-Time Grand Slam Champion Captured 1998 Pilot Pen Tennis Crown
NEW HAVEN, Conn., August 1, 2011
– The New Haven Open at Yale presented by First Niagara will hold a
TEEKANNE High Tea, with
TEEKANNE brand ambassador and Hall
of Famer Stefanie Graf, on Wednesday, August 24 from 1:00-4:00 p.m. in
the Courtside Club, an air-conditioned suite overlooking Stadium Court,
it was announced today by Anne Worcester, tournament director. The
tournament, a WTA event that is part of the Olympus US Open Series, will
be held August 18-27, 2011 at the Connecticut Tennis Center at Yale.
An
event for tea and tennis aficionados’ alike, patrons will enjoy a light
buffet, sample several varieties of TEEKANNE Herbal Wellness Tea and
participate in a meet and greet with former World No. 1 Stefanie
Graf (who will join the High Tea at 2:30 p.m.). Tickets to the High Tea
are $150 and include the afternoon’s matches. To purchase a ticket to
TEEKANNE High Tea for the day session and a New Haven Food & Wine
Festival Grand Tasting ticket for the evening session, a special
combination price of $250 will be offered (phone-order only).
To purchase tickets, click
here
Graf
is a former World No. 1 who won an incredible 22 Grand Slam singles
titles including a “Golden Slam,” winning all four Grand Slam singles
titles and the Olympic gold medal in the same calendar year (1988). She
is arguably the greatest female player of all-time, and is married to
one of the best men’s players of all-time, eight-time Grand Slam singles
champion Andre Agassi. She is the founder of Children For Tomorrow
(CFT), a non-profit foundation with the goal of supporting and
initiating projects that provide assistance to children and families who
have suffered the trauma of war, violence, abuse, exile or loss of the
family.
In
addition, Graf is a significant part of tournament history. One of her
107 WTA titles came in 1998 during the first-ever women’s tournament in
New Haven. She defeated then-World No. 2 Lindsay Davenport and World No.
3 Jana Novotna en route to the title.
“We
are thrilled to have a tennis legend and our inaugural champion,
Stefanie Graf, return to the New Haven Open,” said Worcester. “Her
wildcard entry into the first-ever WTA tournament in 1998 in New Haven,
and subsequent victory, drew strong crowds and helped to solidify the
foundation of our event, which is now in its 14th year. We
know that fans will want to see Stefanie, so we encourage them to get
their tickets to TEEKANNE High Tea, for what will be a wonderful event.”
For more information about TEEKANNE High Tea, the tournament, and tickets please visit www.newhavenopen.com or call 855-4-NHTENNIS.
Work behind the scenes at the final women's stop before the US Open! As a volunteer, you will receive a uniform, complimentary tickets, credential, meal coupons and free parking. Applications are due by Friday, August 5th.
We still have positions in three areas where we could use your help:
Transportation: A unique opportunity to transport players and other New Haven Open at Yale VIPs in private tournament vehicles.This department also runs 15 passenger shuttle vans between the tournament site and tournament hotels. Transportation volunteers WILL NOT be driving golf carts. We also provide airport transfers to the following airports: Tweed, Hartford, White Plains, and occasionally JFK and LGA. We require a photocopy of your valid driver's license along with your application for insurance purposes. Minimum age is 21.
General Volunteer: Work in various areas from staffing Hospitality Suites to monitoring on court entrances. Great for volunteers who would like a variety of different duties throughout the week. Minimum age is 18.
Usher: The backbone to the tournament. The primary duty of ushers is checking for proper tickets and controlling movement during play. Each usher is assigned to a section of the venue each shift. Long periods of standing are required and ushers are subject to being in the sun during the day. Minimum age is 18.
Click here for more information.