August marks the return of the highest level of tennis to the United States, as the North American hard-court swing begins, culminating with the US Open in Flushing Meadows, New York, which begins on Aug. 26 and runs through Sept. 8.
The lead-up to the US Open, known as the US Open Series, kicks off with a men’s event in Atlanta in late July and continues with a dual men’s and women’s event in Washington, D.C., as well as a women’s event in San Jose, California, the first week of August.
Additional stops include Cincinnati and Winston-Salem, North Carolina, as well as Montreal and Toronto before the top players in the world head to the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York for the year’s final Grand Slam.
A number of the players who will be competing in the US Open Series later this summer live in Orlando and train at the USTA National Campus in Lake Nona. Those with high enough rankings will be directly accepted into the US Open main draw, while the next tier of players will be given the opportunity to qualify during the US Open Qualifying Tournament, which is the centerpiece of US Open Fan Week, Aug. 19-24.
Leading the way for the Orlando contingent is Madison Keys, who is ranked No. 17 in the world following Wimbledon. Keys has enjoyed a strong 2019 campaign, winning her fourth career WTA title in Charleston, South Carolina, in April. She reached the fourth round at the Australian Open and the quarterfinals at the French Open and looks to build on her recent US Open success, which includes a run to the semifinals last year and the final in 2017.
In addition to Keys, a number of other Top 200-ranked women from Orlando will be in action this summer, including Alison Riske (No. 37), Jennifer Brady (No. 72), Allie Kiick (No. 139), and Ann Li (No. 173).
Riske is coming off a breakout grass-court season, in which she won back-to-back titles at Wimbledon lead-up events, the second of which marked her second career WTA title at the Libema Open, where she defeated world No. 4 Kiki Bertens in the final. She followed up that performance by upsetting world No. 1 Ashleigh Barty to reach the quarterfinals at Wimbledon, a career-best Grand Slam performance, before falling there to Serena Williams.
Brady notably reached the finals of the WTA 125K Series event in Indian Wells, California, and the semifinals of the grass-court WTA event in Nottingham, England, while both Kiick and Li have had success on the ITF World Tennis Tour this season.
On the men’s side, 21-year-old Frances Tiafoe built on his breakout 2018 season by reaching the quarterfinals of the Australian Open in January, catapulting him to a career-high ranking of No. 29 in February. He also notably reached the quarterfinals of the Miami Open and is ranked No. 41 in the world following Wimbledon.
Orlando resident Mackenzie McDonald, who announced himself with a remarkable run at Wimbledon in 2018, reached the final of the ATP Challenger Tour event in Dallas as well as the semifinals of the Delray Beach Open in February. He reached a career-high ranking of No. 57 in April and currently finds himself ranked No. 96 after missing the grass-court season due to a hamstring injury that could sideline him for the US Open as well.
Bjorn Fratangelo, the other Top-200 men’s player who trains in Lake Nona, qualified for the main draw at the Australian Open earlier this year and reached the semifinals of the ATP Challenger Tour event in Dallas. He is ranked No. 123 heading into this year’s US Open Series.
