Florida Women’s, Men’s Pro Events on USTA Roland Garros Wild Card Tennis Challenge

Men’s events in Sarasota and Tallahassee, and a women’s event in Bonita Springs will be Florida tennis stops during the 2019 Roland Garros Wild Card Challenge, which utilizes clay court pro tournaments to award an American man and woman a main draw wild card into the French Open.

The challenge will kick off the week of April 8 for the men and April 15 for the women, with each side’s window lasting four weeks. The USTA and French tennis federation have a reciprocal agreement in which main draw wild cards for the 2019 French Open and US Open are exchanged.

The men’s wild card will go to the American with the highest cumulative total of ATP singles ranking points earned from their best three results during the four weeks of men’s events, including results from any professional clay court event at the ATP Challenger level and higher around the world (main draw and qualifying points only). The women’s wild card will be awarded to the American with the highest cumulative total of WTA singles ranking points earned from their best two results during their four-week window.

In a new provision, players ranked in the ATP or WTA Top 50 at the beginning of their respective challenge windows are not eligible to earn the wild card.

The Roland Garros Wild Card Challenge will consist of the following events:

Men’s Events

Week of April 8: ATP Tour 250s (Houston; Marrakech); ATP Challenger 80s (Barletta, Italy; Murcia, Spain)
Week of April 15: ATP Masters 1000 Monte Carlo; ATP Challenger 125 (Anning, China); USTA Pro Circuit ATP Challenger 100 (Sarasota, Fla.); ATP Challenger 80s (Tunis, Tunisia; San Luis  Potosi, Mexico)
Week of April 22: ATP Tour 500 (Barcelona); ATP Tour 250 (Budapest); USTA Pro Circuit / ATP Challenger 80 (Tallahassee, Fla.); ATP Challenger 80 (Francavilla, Italy)
Week of April 29: ATP Tour 250s (Estoril; Munich); ATP Challenger 110 (Bordeaux, France); USTA Pro Circuit / ATP Challenger 80 (Savannah, Ga.); ATP Challenger 80 (Ostrava, Czech Republic)

Women’s Events

Week of April 15: USTA Pro Circuit / ITF World Tennis Tour W80 (Dothan, Ala.)
Week of April 22: WTA International (Istanbul); USTA Pro Circuit / ITF World Tennis Tour W80 (Charlottesville, Va.)
Week of April 29: WTA Internationals (Prague; Rabat); USTA Pro Circuit / ITF World Tennis Tour W100 (Charleston, S.C.); ITF World Tennis Tour W60 (Wiesbaden, Germany)
Week of May 6: WTA Premier Mandatory (Madrid); USTA Pro Circuit / ITF World Tennis Tour W100 (Bonita Springs, Fla.); ITF World Tennis Tour W100 (Cagnes-sur-Mer, France)

All USTA Pro Circuit tournaments will be streamed live on www.procircuit.usta.com.

This is the eighth consecutive year the USTA has used a wild card challenge format to award French Open wild cards for American players. Former world No. 1 junior Taylor Townsend is the only player to win multiple challenge titles over the years.

Previous Roland Garros Wild Card Challenge winners:

2018 — Noah Rubin; Taylor Townsend
2017 — Tennys Sandgren; Amanda Anisimova
2016 — Bjorn Fratangelo; Taylor Townsend
2015 — Frances Tiafoe; Louisa Chirico
2014 — Robby Ginepri; Taylor Townsend
2013 — Alex Kuznetsov; Shelby Rogers
2012 — Brian Baker; Melanie Oudin

The 2019 French Open main draw will be held Sunday, May 26, to Sunday, June 9.

For more info go to www.usta.com/news.