The USTA on Tuesday announced that top 18-year old Jared Donaldson, 2011 French Open boys’ champion Bjorn Fratangelo, 2012 Olympian Ryan Harrison, former Texas A&M All-American Austin Krajicek, 2015 NCAA champion Ryan Shane and 2015 USTA Boys’ 18s National Champion Frances Tiafoe have been awarded men’s singles main draw wild card entries into the 2015 US Open, along with 2001 US Open champion Lleyton Hewitt, of Australia, and Pierre-Hughes Herbert, of France.
The 2015 US Open will be played August 31-September 13 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 $3.3 million, with the ability to earn an additional $1 million in bonus prize money – for a total $4.3 million potential payout – based on their performances in the Emirates Airline US Open Series.
Donaldson, 18, of Chepachet, R.I., is one of only four players ages 18 or younger ranked inside the ATP Top 200, at No. 153. He won his first Challenger title in February, at the $50,000 USTA Pro Circuit tournament in Maui, and recently qualified and advanced to the second round of the BB&T Atlanta Open.
Fratangelo, 22, of Pittsburgh, currently ranked No. 106, will make his Grand Slam main draw debut after winning the USTA Pro Circuit’s US Open Wild Card Challenge with his results at recent USTA Pro Circuit Challengers this summer. Fratangelo, who is named after Bjorn Borg, won the 2011 French Open boys’ singles title, becoming the first American to do so since John McEnroe in 1977.
Harrison, 23, of Austin, Texas, is currently ranked No. 126. He competed for the U.S. in the 2012 London Olympics and reached a career-high No. 43 in the world that summer. He reached his seventh ATP World Tour semifinal at Acapulco in February.
Krajieck, 25, of Tampa, Fla., is ranked No. 113 after advancing to the final at the USTA Pro Circuit $100,000 Challenger in Aptos, Calif., last week. Krajicek has won two Challenger titles, the second coming this May, since graduating in 2011 from Texas A&M, where he was a four-time All-American.
Shane, 21, of Falls Church, Va., is the 2015 NCAA singles champion and a rising senior at the University of Virginia. He went 36-8 in singles matches during his junior season.
Tiafoe, 17, of College Park, Md., is the 2015 USTA Boys’ 18s National Champion, currently ranked No. 271. He is a former world No. 2-ranked junior who made his Grand Slam main-draw debut at the 2015 French Open after winning the Har-Tru USTA Pro Circuit Wild Card Challenge.
Hewitt, 34, received his wild card through a reciprocal agreement with Tennis Australia, which will grant an American a wild card into the 2016 Australian Open. The 2001 US Open champion Hewitt, now ranked No. 162, will make his 15th appearance in Flushing Meadows, where he was also the runner-up in 2004.
Herbert, 24, received his wild card through a reciprocal agreement with the French Tennis Federation. He is ranked No. 139 and recently qualified and reached the second round at Wimbledon.
In addition to the eight US Open men’s singles main draw wild cards, the USTA also announced the eight men who have been awarded wild card entries into the US Open Qualifying Tournament, which will be held August 25-28 at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. One additional US Open qualifying wild card will be awarded to the winner of the 2015 US Open National Playoffs – Men’s Championship, taking place August 21-24 in New Haven, Conn.
Players receiving US Open qualifying wild cards are: current world No. 1 junior and 2015 French Open boys’ finalist Taylor Fritz (17, Rancho Santa Fe, Calif.); 2015 USTA Boys’ 18s runner-up and 2014 Wimbledon and Australian Open finalist Stefan Kozlov (17, Pembroke Pines, Fla.); former Top-5 world-ranked junior Mitchell Krueger (21, Fort Worth, Texas), who reached the quarterfinals or better at three straight USTA Pro Circuit Challengers this summer; 2014 NCAA singles champion Marcos Giron (22, Thousand Oaks, Calif.), who earned his qualifying wild card by winning the American Collegiate Invitational at last year’s US Open; current world No. 3 junior Michael Mmoh (17, Bradenton, Fla.); 2015 Wimbledon boys’ champion Reilly Opelka (17, Palm Coast, Fla.); 2015 French Open boys’ champion Tommy Paul (18, Greenville, N.C.); 2015 NCAA singles finalist and 2014 USTA Boys’ 18s National Champion Noah Rubin (19, Rockville Centre, N.Y.).
Photograph: Imaginechina/Corbis
