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| Crowd favorites John McEnroe (left) and James Blake will return for another year of Legends Play at the Connecticut Open in New Haven in August. (Photo courtesy Connecticut Open) |
NEW HAVEN—Two Connecticut
favorites, John McEnroe and James Blake, will join Tommy Haas and Todd Martin
in the Invesco Legends New Haven event—the circuit for champion tennis players
over the age of 30—at the 2018 Connecticut Open, to be held August 17-25, at
the Connecticut Tennis Center at Yale, it was announced by tournament director
Anne Worcester. The Connecticut Open Men’s Legends Event, which began four
years ago, is an official part of the 2018 Invesco Series QQQ champions tennis
circuit.
On Thursday, Aug. 23, following
the women’s quarterfinal, Invesco Legends newcomer Haas will play Blake, while
McEnroe will play Martin on Friday, Aug. 24, after the women’s semifinal. The
winners of each matchup will compete in a final, also on Friday night.
Haas, the tournament director
at the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells, Calif., officially retired from the ATP
Tour last month. He was the silver medalist at the 2000 Olympic Games in
Sydney, losing a five-set gold medal match to Russia’s Yevgeny Kafelnikov. Haas
achieved a career-high ranking of No. 2, reached the semifinals of the
Australian Open in 1999, 2002 and 2007, and the semifinals at Wimbledon in
2009. He won 15 career singles title in his career, including the title in
Halle in his native Germany in 2012, where he defeated Roger Federer in the
final.
“I have great memories of
playing in the City of New Haven, and I look forward to coming back and
participating in the Invesco Legends at the Connecticut Open,” said Haas, who
won his Legends debut in Charleston Legends event in his debut two weeks ago.
“Unfortunately, I remember a three-set loss to James on his home turf back in
2005 so I’ll certainly be hoping to reverse that result on Thursday night in
front of the great fans at the Connecticut Tennis Center.”
Blake, who was born in Yonkers
and grew up in Fairfield—a friend of blues/rock/pop star John Mayer—is a two-time
Connecticut Open Champion. Blake, who bears a striking resemblance to New
Jersey Senator Corey Booker, has won 10 singles and seven doubles titles on the
ATP World Tour. As an active player, Blake reached a career-high ranking of
No.4, and earlier this year was named tournament director at the Miami Open. He
returns to his home state to play in the Legends event for the fourth
consecutive year and holds a 3-2 advantage in ATP head-to-head matches vs.
Haas.
The feisty McEnroe—a crowd
favorite wherever he competes—is a seven-time Grand Slam singles and nine-time
Grand Slam doubles champ. This will be his third visit to New Haven on the
Legends Tour. With more than 150 singles and doubles championships in on his
resume, Johnny Mac was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in
1999.
Martin, currently CEO of the
International Tennis Hall of Fame, will be returning to the Invesco Series for
the first time since 2015. Martin, who reached the finals of the Australian
Open in 1994 and the US Open in 1999, won eight singles titles in his career. He
was also a member of the US team that won the Davis Cup in 1995, beating
Russian 3-2 in the final.
“The Legends Event is always a
fan favorite at the Connecticut Open and we are excited to bring some of the
most entertaining players in the history of the game to New Haven each year,”
said Worcester. “We are so pleased to have John McEnroe back in 2018 and to get
Todd Martin back competing for the first time since 2015. James Blake, our
finalist last year, remains as popular as ever here, and we can’t wait to see
him take to the court against a friend and rival in Tommy Haas. The Invesco
Legends lineup this year is a fantastic clash of two generations and we are
intrigued to see who comes out on top.”
Fans can guarantee the best
savings to the Invesco Legends matches by purchasing a weeklong or multiple
session package. 2018 Connecticut Open ticket options include:
- After Hours (Aug. 20-25)–Every evening session, including all Legends matches, and Saturday afternoon (WTA Finals)
- Final 4 (Aug. 23-25)–Thursday evening (WTA Quarterfinal/Legends), Friday day and evening (WTA Semifinal/Legends), and Saturday (WTA Finals)
- Pick 4 (Aug. 19-23)–Choice of four early round sessions including Thursday evening (WTA Quarterfinal/Legends)
The
Connecticut Open is a WTA tournament held at the Connecticut Tennis Center at
Yale featuring a 30-player singles main draw, a 48-player qualifying draw, and
a 16-team doubles draw with total prize money of $799,000. The 2017 title was
won by Australia’s Daria Gavrilova, who collected her maiden WTA trophy as the
tournament celebrated 20 years of women’s tennis in New Haven.
The past
champions list is a veritable Who’s Who of women’s tennis, and includes Venus
Williams and Caroline Wozniacki (four titles apiece), Petra Kvitova (three
titles) and Lindsay Davenport (two titles), as well as Steffi Graf, Jennifer
Capriati, and Justine Henin. As a not-for-profit 501c3 charitable organization,
the Connecticut Open’s mission is to leverage the excitement of world-class
women’s tennis to benefit the local community and maximize support for women’s,
youth and other causes.
The tournament
generates in excess of $10 million in regional economic impact. The Connecticut
Open is prominently featured domestically through 50+ hours on ESPN2 and ESPN3,
and is also broadcast worldwide by WTA Media in 158 countries. In 2017, the
global audience reached nearly 12 million viewers. For more details and
tickets, visit www.ctopen.org, or
call 1-855-464-8366
—with staff reports
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