Around the Grounds
Saturday, August 15, 2015
Welcome to the Western & Southern Open!
It’s the day tennis fans have been looking forward to, since last August: The return of the Western & Southern Open to the Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason, Ohio. We have quite the lineup for you this year, many of your old favorites mixed in with some new features that we think you’ll like.
First, let’s take a look at some of the highlights from last night’s players draw. On the men’s side, top seed Novak Djokovic gets a first round bye but could face fifth seed Stan Wawarinka in his bracket. And W&S Open favorite Mardy Fish, on his farewell tour before retiring after the U.S. Open, could face third seeded Andy Murray as early as the second round (Murray has an opening bye). And defending men’s champion Roger Federer is in the same bracket as American favorite Jack Sock.
On the women’s side, defending champion Serena Williams has an opening bye, while her sister, Venus, could have a tough second round matchup with former world number 1 and sixth seed Ana Ivanovic, who also has an opening bye. And in a potential dynamite second round match, another former number 1, Caroline Wozniacki, will face the winner of the first round match between former Western & Southern champion Victoria Azarenka and a qualifier.
Qualifiers are who you’ll see playing on this Saturday, which is Graeter’s Kids Day, the day that kids rule the grounds! Autograph sessions, face painting, samples of Graeter’s ice cream and on-court drills highlight the day for the youngsters.
And don’t forget, tickets are already going fast for the sessions throughout the week, so make sure you get your tickets early at wsopen.com. And we’ll see you Around the Grounds!