Two-time Cincinnati champion Andy Roddick, ’09 US Open champion Juan Martin del Potro and world No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki are among the top talent practicing at the expanded Lindner Family Tennis Center. All 16 courts are filled with players vying for time to hit.

 

Serving as a springboard to great things for the American’s career, Roddick won this Masters 1000 event for the first time before claiming his lone major at the US Open back in 2003. Leading up to that Grand Slam win, he defeated compatriot and friend Mardy Fish in Cincinnati. Those wins helped Roddick claim the year-end world No. 1 ranking.

 

Roddick collected his second Cincinnati title in 2006, defeating Juan Carlos Ferrero as the tournament’s No. 9 seed. In 2011, he lost to Fish 6-4, 6-7(3), 1-6 in the semifinals.

 

Trying to push past a shaky 2011 filled with injury, the Nebraska-native expressed excitement to return to Cincinnati on Twitter. The second-ranked American wrote, "Cincy bound. Finally I can get back to play some tennis. Being hurt is very very boring." He last played on American soil for the United States Davis Cup team earlier this summer in July, losing to the Spanish team in Texas.

 

The winner of the US Open Series in ‘08, Juan Martin del Potro looks to find his form going into the event. In Los Angeles, he lost to an inspired Ernests Gulbis, who later won the title, in the quarterfinals. This will be the Argentine’s first appearance at Cincinnati since a third round loss to Carlos Moya in ’07.

 

Wozniacki also highlights practice court action today, hitting with Israel’s Shahar Peer, a finalist at the inaugural WTA event at College Park, Maryland. The Dane made her Cincinnati debut as a wild card in 2005.

 

In 2011, the world No. 1 has already collected five titles, including one at lndian Wells. She’s still, however, searching for her maiden major, having reached one final at the US Open in ’09.

 

Rounding out some of the other big names at the courts today are Svetlana Kuznetsova, Marion Bartoli, Sabine Lisicki, David Ferrer, James Blake and Kei Nishikori.