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Alex Bogomolov, Victor Estrella, A Pair of Stinky Adidas Sneakers and How Randy Walker Got A Bud Collins Nickname From The 2003 Pan Am Games In The Dominican Republic

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By Randy Walker

@TennisPublisher

 

They say that before you judge a man, you should walk a mile in his shoes. However, can you judge a man after playing a big-time tennis match in his shoes…. literally?

Former top 40 pro Alex Bogomolov can certainly be the fairest judge of yours truly after one of the strangest circumstances, certainly in his tennis career, my media career and quite possibly in the history of the sport. The unusual and now laughable circumstance earned me one of the great informal recognitions in tennis, an official nick-name from the late, great tennis journalist and personality Bud Collins.

The scene was Santo Domingo, the capital city of the Dominican Republic, at the 2003 Pan American Games, which is the once-every-four-years gathering of North, Central and South American nations in a mini-Olympics style competition. I was there in my role at the U.S. Tennis Association as the press officer for the U.S. tennis team. In that time, the Pan Am Games was kind of at a level just below the Davis Cup and Fed Cup teams in the “Team USA” pecking order. The U.S. men’s team was led by Alex Bogomolov, who was ranked No. 117 in the world at the time, and also featured 1999 NCAA singles champion Jeff Morrison and 2000 NCAA singles champion Alex Kim. The women’s team featured Sarah Taylor, Ansley Cargill and Carly Gullickson. Former U.S. Davis Cupper Eliot Teltscher was the men’s coach and former U.S. Fed Cupper Debbie Graham was the women’s coach.

The matches were played at the brand new Centro Nacional de Tenis, just near the Faro a Colon, a lighthouse memorial to Christopher Columbus, who was the first European to visit the island of Hispaniola, on which the eastern part makes up the Dominican Republic.

The event was highlighted by the presence of former world No. 1 Marcelo Rios of Chile, who was the No. 1 seed (and eventually lost in the gold medal match to Fernando Meligeni of Brazil). Bogomolov was the No. 2 seed and in his opening match faced a talented 23-year-old Dominican player named Victor Estrella, who was ranked No. 865.

The two battled for almost three hours on the stadium court in the brutal August heat and humidity in front of a loud and rowdy crowd of Dominican fans, some equipped with drums and other percussion instruments that created an amazing Davis Cup-like atmosphere. Estrella showed that he was way better a player than his 800-ranking indicated and nearly beat Bogomolov, falling 6-4, 2-6, 6-3.

The U.S. contingent and Teltscher were very impressed with Estrella and sought him out in the locker room to offer encouragement and congratulations on an excellent match. I remember Teltscher saying that if only Estrella had more money and more opportunities, he could really become a good player. Remarkably, it was eight years later when he eventually cracked the top 200 in the ATP rankings and another three years after that becoming the first player from the Dominican Republic to break into the ATP top 100 at the age of 34! After the U.S. group saw Estrella in the locker room after the match it was immediately evident that he needed medical treatment as he went into a full, extreme body cramp and our U.S. Olympic trainer Adam Pecina jumped to immediately treat the stricken Dominican player. “Bogie” as he was affectionately known, was offered an IV by Pecina after the match, but declined. As was common in the Dominican Republic at the time, there was a “brown out” that night as the power went out at our hotel and we all had to gather at the pool by tiki torch light – and in the humidity – and eat food prepared off the hotel’s poolside open grill.

The next morning at the U.S. team hotel, I sat for breakfast and was soon joined by Bogomolov. I noticed immediately how red his face was and remarked to him that he looked terrible. I asked him if he had an IV the day before and he said he didn’t think he needed one. Pecina soon joined us and Bogomolov changed his mind and requested an IV. Getting an IV before a match was indeed an extreme measure.

Since Bogomolov was one of the “second-on” matches on the daily schedule that day, it was decided that he would stay behind with Pecina and get his IV and our bus driver Geraldo would drop off the first wave of our players for the 9 am matches and then return to the hotel to pick up Bogomolov and Pecina. I decided to stay behind as well and would go over with Bogomolov. It was agreed that our team administrator Mary Carlisle White would go with the first wave of players and would stay in touch with me as to the status of the match on court before Bogomolov’s match was to start. Again, this was  before the time of live scoring on web pages and iPhones.

At about 9:45 am, as the first wave of matches got under way at the national tennis center, I got a call from White, who was on site: “You guys better get over here. The match before Bogie’s match is already at 6-0, 2-0. So he could be on the court in like 20 minutes.”

The courts were about 30 minute drive away and traffic in Santo Domingo was always unpredictable. I ran to Pecina’s room to get Bogomolov and get him to the courts. I found him with the IV needle still in his arm.

“We have to get going now,” I said. “The match before yours is at 6-0, 2-0 so you need to get there now.”

Bogomolov told Pecina to take the IV out of his arm and we quickly went to the front of the hotel, where our driver Geraldo was waiting for us. We told Geraldo, a resident of Santo Domingo, the urgency to get to the courts and he sped his way through the streets of Santo Domingo like he was Sandra Bullock driving the bus around Los Angeles in the movie “Speed.” After cruising through the crowded and chaotic streets of Santo Domingo, where stop signs and traffic lights were almost optional, we pulled into the tennis center. Just as Bogomolov walked to the tournament desk, his match was called to the court. He made it in the nick of time and avoided being defaulted.

He ran into the locker room to get his match clothes on but soon emerged with his face nearly as red as it was earlier in the morning at breakfast before his IV.

“Where are my shoes? My shoes! I can’t find my shoes!” he screamed in panic.

Bogomolov was there is in his full match outfit, but standing in the hallway with only his socks on. In the rush to get the courts, he left his match sneakers in his hotel room.

“Randy Walker! I left my shoes in my hotel room,” he shouted at me. “What size shoe do you wear?”

I was sporting a brand new pair of Adidas size 10.5 white sneakers. I had only worn them for two days after I received them as part of USOC Team Processing, where all representatives for Team USA received official merchandise.

“I’m a 10-and-a-half,” I responded, sheepishly, realizing that I probably would have to give them up for the greater cause.

“I’m a size 11,” said Bogie. “But let me try them on.”

I kicked off my shoes and tossed them to Bogie. He wedged his feet tightly into the shoes.

“This will have to do,” he said, tossing me a pair of sandals to wear as he grabbed his racquet bag and went off to the court where he was to play Pablo Gonzalez of Colombia.

My shoes served Bogie well. He advanced into the quarterfinals wearing them with a 7-6(5), 6-4 win. The heat and sun was so oppressive that Bogie called for a toilet break during the match, where he threw up. He said if it was not for some perfectly-time cloud cover, he probably would not have finished the match, not to mention the pre-match IV.

He walked over to me after the match and gave me a high five and we laughed. He then dropped the completely soaking wet sneakers, now also with scuffs from the hard courts, at my feet. At least he didn’t throw up on them. I got quotes from Bogie on his match where he was happy to credit “Randy Walker’s shoes” that he joked made him run extra fast.

Later in the afternoon, after all the USA team matches were done, I was dropped off at the USOC press center which was at a school in downtown Santo Domingo. I walked into the press center barefoot, holding my soaking wet, stinking sneakers.

The first person who saw me was Bob Condron, the head of media services for the U.S. Olympic Committee.

“What’s going on with the shoes?” he asked.

I told him the story of my shoes were a vital accessory in the Pan Am Games competition earlier in the day. He shook his head and laughed. “That’s a great story,” he said.

As I sat and typed up my game story for the day and had to subtlety mention my own involvement. Soon, Condron called out my name and said he wanted me to meet someone. He introduced me to an American reporter named Steve Springer from the Los Angeles Times who was covering the Pan Am Games. “He wants to do a story on your shoes.”

I happily relayed the events from earlier in the day and Springer took it all in and filed his story called “Missing Sole But Not Heart” (available to read here: https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2003-aug-07-sp-panamtennis7-story.html). Condron also typed up an official U.S. Olympic Committee news story press release on the episode. As news of my Pan Am caper circulated around the tennis world – Sports Illustrated (“nada zapatos“) and the Associated Press among many other media outlets writing about me and my shoes – I got a flurry of emails from friend and colleagues. The most memorable email came from Bud Collins, known best for his work at the Boston Globe and NBC Sports who was well-known for bestowing nick-names to some of the biggest tennis stars in the world, like Steffi Graf being called “Fraulein Forehand” or Jimmy Connors as the “Brash Basher of Belleville. I now was being added to this illustrious list of people to get a nickname from Collins as in his email, he officially anointed me as “Gringo Good Shoes.” It stuck. Every time I saw Bud and his wife Anita at tennis events around the world, at the U.S. Open or in phone conversations or book signings for his “Bud Collins History of Tennis” book that I ended up being the publisher for, I would always be greeted as “Gringo Good Shoes” or sometimes just “Good Shoes” for short.

The shoes eventually dried and I popped them in the washing machine when I got back home to the USA and wore them for a while, even at one point at the U.S. Open posing for a photo with Collins while wearing them. I eventually retired them, but couldn’t stand to throw them out. I still have them in my closet, a prop to one of the most unusual moments in my tennis media career.

As a side note, Bogie and I continued to have our special bond, that soon transferred to his older sister Katia, who soon became a co-worker of mine at the USTA for a brief time. She and I also became friends and soon after that, I introduced her to my friend Patrick Holness, who soon became her husband! And, to boot, they got married on my 39th birthday.

 

Randy Walker - and his famous Pan Am Games shoes - with Bud Collins
Randy Walker – and his famous Pan Am Games shoes – with Bud Collins

 

Never too late: Alex Bogomolov evolves from teen tabloid headliner to solid tennis pro

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By Christopher Lancette

Five years may have passed since current world No. 81 Alex Bogomolov Jr., got the worst news of his pro career but the memory still burns inside him even at age 30 as he returns to the Citi Open in Washington D.C. this week.

With a cast on his left wrist due to recent ligament damage suffered at a tournament in Korea, the Russian-born American headed to Texas in 2008. He thought that all he needed was time to rest and recover so that he could resume a career filled with equal parts great promise and personal distraction. That’s when a doctor called him with a shot he didn’t see coming.

Alex Bogomolov, Jr.

“He called me and told me I might be done,” Bogomolov recalls, his speech slowing as he relives the moment. “I remember sitting in a parking lot bawling.”

The then 25-year-old was in shock. A decade had passed since he burst onto the tennis scene by winning the USTA National Boys 16’ championships – beating Andy Roddick in the final – He won the Boys’ 18s and then began to learn how to win at the pro level, reaching the 130s in the rankings.

At the lowest point in his career, though, serendipity stepped in. It took the form of two people.

The first was Dr. A. Lee Osterman, a gifted hand surgeon that “Bogie” calls “the magician.” Osterman found a way to repair the pro’s wrist and give him a chance to fight his way back on to the court, even as his patient’s ranking fell from No. 167 to 313.

Bogomolov grows even more elated when he talks about the second person who entered his life that year. Back in his hometown of Miami, he couldn’t do much of anything but count the days until his wrist came free.

“I had the cast on and I was just hanging out with friends,” he recalls. “We went to a car show. That’s where I met my wife Luana. She was working as a Mazda sales rep. She didn’t know anything about tennis and had no idea who I was.”

Bogomolov found something in Luana that he had not found in his personal life before: Genuine happiness. The new couple soon had a son Maddox, a child that the proud papa calls the light of his life.

The settled-down stability was a far cry from his bachelor days – a time in his life that led to his first marriage to WTA player and Playboy model Ashley Harkleroad that ended quickly in 2006. He also made headlines through his friendship with hitting partner Anna Kournikova. Tennis, he admits, wasn’t always his top priority as a teenager or young adult. Bogomolov also makes no claim that he was a Boy Scout.

Alex Bogomolov, Jr.

“I grew up in Miami, and parts of it are rough,” he says. “I started running with some wrong crowds.”

Tennis played a role even in his mischief: At age 15, he would get his first taste of the U.S. Open … but not through a first-round invitation or qualifying win.

“I used to go to New York a lot as a kid,” he says. “Me and about five friends used to sneak into the U.S. Open, getting into the locker room without passes. We stationed ourselves at different posts and waited for players to make their way to an entrance. We’d ask them if we could carry their bags and then scoot right in with them.”

He became the No. 1-ranked USTA 18’s player by the year 2000. The same year, he earned a wild card into the Major he had only snuck into before. He lost to David Nalbandian in the first round at the U.S. Open but found that his appearance had suddenly made the tennis world aware of his talent.

“All of these agents starting coming to me and talking to me,” he says.

Out went plans to play for Texas Christian University; in came the decision to turn pro.

“As far as making a living playing tennis, I hadn’t thought that much about it until then,” he says.

Bogomolov fought his way through the challenger circuit and paid his dues at ATP stops in the years ahead. Misfortune slammed him again in 2005 when he was suspended for 1.5 months for failing a doping test. The punishment came despite the fact that a tribunal determined he had no intention of trying to enhance his performance by using salbutamol – which Bogomolov admitted ingesting through an inhaler he used to treat exercise-induced asthma. The decision robbed the player of prize money and rankings points earned by reaching the main draw of the Australian Open in 2004.

He met with greater success down under the following year, winning his first Grand Slam tournament match in 2006 – beating ninth seed Fernando Gonzalez of Chile in five sets.

Every time Bogomolov appeared to be poised for another major ascent in his career, adversity found its way to him. The 2008 wrist injury, though, would not knock him out of the game. While many players at that age are beginning to accept the notion they’ve risen as far in the rankings as they’ll ever go, Bogomolov refused to surrender to Father Time. With a beautiful new bride and baby boy in the stands cheering him on, he qualified for one ATP main draw and reached the quarterfinals or better in seven challengers in 2010.

His climb back up the rankings accelerated in 2011 – catapulting him to a career-best No. 33. Along the way, he notched the biggest win of his career by beating then No. 5 Andy Murray in Miami and No. 10 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in Cincinnati. The success and 27 wins that year earned him the ATP’s “Most Improved Player” award.

Bogomolov hit another bump in the road in 2012 when he made the unusual decision to play for his birth country rather than the U.S. in the Davis Cup. Though chided by some of his American friends on the tour, Bogomolov says that it felt right to make the switch. His dad, after all, had been a Soviet national coach and the current Russian team had lost players to other nations. Russia lost to Austria in their February contest, Bogomolov dropping both of his matches.

Alex Bogomolov, Jr.

If history holds true for the now 30-year-old, the setback will be followed by another leap forward. He often says that he believes success visits some players at a later age and that everything in life happens for a reason.

Bogomolov makes it clear that tennis means more to him now that it did as a can’t-miss prospect. He’s no longer playing just for himself but for his family. There is also another group of kids that he doesn’t forget – the kids that gather outside the U.S. Open dreaming of meeting or perhaps becoming a pro … just like he and his friends used to do.

“It’s a very special time for me now,” he says. “Now these kids are living vicariously through me. They see that I can do this, that I can achieve my dream.”

Photos By Won-ok Kim

Legg Mason Tennis Classic preview – Around the corner

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The two stops on the ATP World Tour for this week include a 250 level tournament on clay played in Kitzbuhel, Austria as well as a 500 level tournament on hard courts in Washington, D.C.

Legg Mason Tennis Classic

For those serious about training for the final Grand Slam of the year, the Legg Mason Classic is the place to be. Bumped up a couple of years ago from a level 250 event, this year’s edition might appear to be a little thin on top-level talent with the withdrawal of Andy Roddick and with the big guns like Nadal and Federer still taking a bit more time off the tour to rest up for a strong late season push towards the Open.

Thomas Muster

Seeded first in D.C. this year is Frenchman Gael Monfils who will thrill the crowds with his acrobatic style of play. With the top sixteen seeds having a first-round bye, Monfils will open against the winner of Ryan Sweeting and Alex Bogomolov Jr., both of the United States. Also in “Le Monfs” quarter of the draw are Dmitry Tursunov, Michael Llodra and Janko Tipsarevic. Monfils should be able to navigate his way through this section and advance to the semi-finals.

In the next section of the draw, eight seed and defending champion David Nalbandian will try to jump-start his mediocre 2011 season. As we have been accustomed to in recent years, it has been injuries that have derailed the 29 year-old Nalbandian’s progress on the circuit. This year he missed three months between March and June due to a hamstring injury. Having lost in the third round of Queen’s Club (Verdasco) and Wimbledon (Federer), Nalbandian will have the added pressure of defending his winning points from a year ago. In his first match Nalbandian will face the winner of James Blake vs. Tatsuma Ito.

Also in this quarter are big servers John Isner and Kevin Anderson, both of whom are having solid seasons thus far. Isner in particular has been doing well since Wimbledon by winning the grass court event in Newport and then making the finals in Atlanta. Rising American star Ryan Harrison is also in this section of the draw and has made back-to-back semi-finals over the past couple of weeks. We’ll see if he can maintain this level of play and respond to the challenge of a somewhat tougher field that he has faced in LA and Atlanta.

If he’s fully healthy and has been training since Wimbledon, then I’d give Nalbandian a fair chance at making it to the semi’s, but I feel that Isner is probably the man to beat given his recent results and his usual success on the summer hard-court swing. Let’s not count out Harrison either as his confidence is mounting with every event he enters.

The next quarter we look at is a bit more wide-open. You’ve got some talented veterans such as Tommy Haas and Fernando Gonzalez, both of whom are trying to regain their form after long injury layoffs. Marcos Baghdatis, a finalist from a year ago is also present as are Jurgen Melzer, Xavier Malisse and Somdev Devvarman. Good luck picking someone to emerge from this slice of the draw.

Haas still has a long way to go to prove he can mount a successful comeback after missing a full year on the tour. Gonzo has not played much this year either and it does not seem like at 31 years old his body can consistently perform when needed. Baghdatis has proved himself capable at this event but he has not played a hard court event since March. Same story for Melzer, who has been playing a full clay-court schedule since March with the exception of Wimbledon.

My pick here would be either the X-man – Malisse or Devvarman who has played well here in the past with a quarter-final showing in 2008 and a round-of-sixteen finish in 2009.

In the final quarter Mardy Fish is the clear choice to advance deep into the draw due to his exceptional play as of late. The now firmly entrenched number one American player has demonstrated that he is a worthy successor to Andy Roddick at the moment and is playing some of the best tennis of his career. You’d have to say Fish is the tournament favorite given his hot play on the summer swing and there does not appear to be much opposition for him in the early rounds.

He could get Fernando Verdasco in the quarter-finals, but otherwise should dispatch guys like Radek Stepanek and Jarkko Nieminen in the first couple of rounds.

As he did a year ago, Fish is definitely placing himself in the conversation for the next level of contenders at the U.S. Open behind the big names like Djokovic, Nadal and Federer.

Bet-At-Home Cup Kitzbuhel

For those players whose games are more suited for clay, Kitzbuhel offers them a chance at some ranking points they might not be able to attain on the North American hard court swing. The event has not been played since 2009, and Guillermo Garcia-Lopez won the tournament that year.

Seeded first is renowned dirt-baller Juan-Ignacio Chela who constantly surprises me with his resilience on the tour. Just when you think his career is about to implode he’ll turn it around with some strong play. He lost four opening matches in a row from late March to early May, then he made the round of sixteen in Rome, won the World Team Championship in Dusseldorf and then advanced to the quarter-finals of the French Open before falling to Andy Murray. It should be noted however that Chela has lost his opening match of his two previous tournaments, both which have been on clay. Suffice it to say that in a tournament labelled, “bet at home”, I wouldn’t bet on Chela.

Albert Montanes is in the top half of the draw as well and is due for some clay court success, while Fabio Fognini and Marcel Granollers are two other talented clay-court players who could make their way towards the final.

One first round match that certainly caught my attention in the draw was fifth seeded Philipp Kohlschreiber against the former king of clay, Thomas Muster. Yes that’s right, at the ripe old age of 43, Muster continues to pop up at challenger events and ones like this one where he is awarded a wildcard in recognition of his previous contributions to the sport. Obviously being Austrian is what got him in the door here, as his record is 0-9 coming into the event. Someone should really tell this guy about the senior tour where his results might be a little more encouraging.

The bottom half of the draw has second seeded Feliciano Lopez, as well as Ivan Ljubicic and Igor Andreev who are all capable players on this surface.

While it might be a bit hard to understand the merits of playing clay court events during the lead-up to a hard court Grand Slam, there are only so many spots open in Washington and these guys do need to earn a living. Just don’t expect any of the names from Kitzbuhel to factor into contention once they arrive in North America.

 

Bogomolov among Wimbledon first-day highlights

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It took just five hours before the tarps were rolled out at Wimbledon for the first time this fortnight, but long before this first rain delay the rejuvenated Alex Bogomolov of Miami, playing, surprisingly, his first Wimbledon at age 28, was showered and happily back at his hotel with his wife and baby son.

Wimbledon

This is decidedly not the old Bogie — head in the clouds, married much too young at 21 to former Playboy model-slash-WTA personality Ashley Harkleroad, divorced two years later, and suspended for a month and a half in 2005 for ingesting, unknowingly, a banned substance through an asthma inhaler.

He’s a pretty deadly serious guy these days and arrived at Wimbledon with a personal-best ranking of No. 72, which will get even better after his 7-5, 4-6, 6-3, 6-1 win over fellow American Donald Young. Not many are expecting Bogie to reach the third round with No. 25 Juan Ignacio Chela on the horizon, but who knows? Strange things happen when Bogomolov is around.

It wasn’t the most notable start to Wimbledon since rain is part of the, shall we say, Wimbledon charm. Number one Rafa Nadal soared into the second round with only 14 unforced errors (35 winners) against little Michael Russell of Houston, Venus Williams easily won her welcome-back-to-the-Slams first rounder over Akbul Amanmuradova, and a few Americans had a jolly good time.

* Mardy Fish of Los Angeles smacked 26 aces in 17 service games and never faced a break point in a straight-set win over Marcel Granollers. Very impressive serving with little dropoff between his first and second (average 120 mph on his first, 96 mph on his second).

* Milos Raonic, the heavy-hitting Canadian who bears close watching, hit 25 aces without a double fault and got 66 percent of his firsts win, defeating Marc Gicquel. He worries even the top-10 players, deeply.

* Tomas Berdych never faced a break point against Filippo Volandri.

* His ranking dropped to No. 113, Rainer Schuettler at age 35 and a former Wimbledon semifinalist had his best win a long time, topping Tomaz Bellucci. This is Schuettler’s 13th Wimbledon.

* Number two Vera Zvonareva had a longer than planned day, defeating young American Alison Riske by 6-0, 3-6, 6-3. Riske is ranked 115, works with coaching icon Dennis Van der Meer at Hilton Head, S.C.

* Six years ago, Anna Tatishvili, a Georgian who once and perhaps still does dream of becoming a naturalized American citizen, began training with Chris Evert at the Evert Academy in Boca Raton. She was talented and just oozed admiration for Chrissie, but the anticipated development never came. Now 21, she not only won her first Wimbledon match, but recorded her first Grand Slam win. She’s currently No. 118 with a chance to bust top-100. Maybe she was inspired because Chrissie is back at Wimbledon, working for ESPN.

* It was also a grand day for another Floridian — Ryan Sweeting, who at 23 has also done some major growing up. He was a surprise U.S. Open junior winner, unseeded, at 18, then enrolled at the University of Florida, where he got himself into some very typical immature college mischief that resulted in a team suspension and a much-needed tongue-lashing from his tough-love mother in Fort Lauderdale. On Monday, he came from two sets down to beat Pablo Andujar for his first Wimbledon win. He’s gone from reliance on his big serve and forehand to a more complete player and he’s having an excellent season. I wouldn’t fancy his chances in round two, however, against Nadal.

* Also: good win for Christina McHale, playing her first Wimbledon.

* And, finally, a word about one of my favorite players, Jill Craybas. She lost, but she deserves so many thanks from a grateful tennis nation for flying the flag all these years. She’s 37 now and this was her 11th Wimbledon and 48th Slam overall.

See you tomorrow.

The US Open Finished the First Round of Qualifying

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It took three days and a lot of dodging raindrops, but the U.S. Open finally finished the first round of qualifying and lesser known U.S. players have done well.

Nine of 20 American men reached the secondn round and young Ryan Harrison of New Braunfels, Texas, is one of the few into the third and final round. He had won his first round match on Day 1 and Thursday defeated No. 10 seed Rui Machado of Portugal to edge within one win of getting the Open main draw next week.

Meanwhile, seven of 15 American women reached the second round, though one of them, 17-year-old Sloane Stephens, lost her second-round match to No. 13 seed Zuzana Ondraskova of the Czech Republic.

Play continues Friday. The U.S. men survivors: No. 22 seed Robert Kendrick, No. 25 Kevin Kim, Jesse Witten, Alex Bogomolov, Chase Buchanan, Michael Yani, Bobby Reynolds, Blake Strode and Harrison. Strode, of St. Louis, was the winner of the recent U.S. Open Challenge, in which grassroots players were invited to compete in a series of tournaments to win a wild card into the Open quallies.

On the women’s side, No. 5 Varvara Lepchenko, Julia Cohen, Julia Boserup, Nicole Gibbs, Irina Falconi and Krista Hardebeck are into the second round.

Harkleroad Hitched, Planning Comeback

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Ashley Harkleroad, the former upstart American tennis pro who gained notoriety for posing for Playboy magazine in 2008, will be making a come back to the WTA Tour in 2010. After giving birth to her son, Charlie, with now husband, former ATP player Chuck Adams, Harkleroad is planning to return to a full-time tennis career in the early spring, possibly as early as the WTA Tour event in Memphis in starting February 15.

Harkleroad, 24, and Adams, 38, were married on September 19 in Inglewood, Calif., and honeymooned in Palm Springs. The couple have an infant son, Charlie, born March 30, 2009.

Harkleroad reached a career-high ranking of No. 39 in 2003 and represented the United States in Fed Cup play in 2008 and Hopman Cup in 2007. She appeared in the August, 2008 issue of Playboy with her photo gracing the cover of the magazine.

Adams was ranked as high as No. 34 in the world and reached three ATP singles finals and reached the fourth round of the 1993 US Open. He is the coach of the New York Sportimes of World Team Tennis.