TENNIS in DEPTH.

Andy Roddick,has accepted a wild card into the Atlanta Tennis Championships. Roddick won the last ATP World Tour tournament in Atlanta in 2001. The Atlanta event, owned and operated by USTA Southern, will serve as the kick-off to the 2010 Olympus US Open Series.

Current world No. 9 Roddick will be the tournament’s top seed. He won the Olympus US Open Series in 2005 and 2006.

On Apr. 29, 2001, the 18-year-old Roddick was ranked No. 89 when he defeated Belgian Xavier Malisse 6-2, 6-4 in the Atlanta clay court final. He was the first American teenager to win an ATP title since Michael Chang in 1992.

Malisse also returns to Atlanta and is projected to be seeded seventh.

Roddick will also play doubles with American Mardy Fish.

“Bringing the best tennis player in America back to Atlanta, where he won his first ATP World Tour title, is extremely exciting,” Tournament Director Bill Oakes said. “In speaking with Andy, he expressed how happy he is to return to the site of his first victory, a city that is truly devoted to playing and watching tennis.”

Roddick comes into Atlanta with a 32-7 match record in 2010. He opened the season with a title in Brisbane and, in April, he won the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title in Miami. He leads the ATP World Tour this season with a 26-4 hard court record (most wins).

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The high-profile ATP and WTA events in Cincinnati will become a combined tournament in 2011, a USTA official has confirmed. Representatives from the two tours and the USTA will announce the changes at a press conference in Cincinnati on Wednesday. The combined event will be held two weeks before the U.S. Open. The current WTA and ATP events in Toronto and Montreal reportedly will remain in separate cities, but will occur during the same week, three weeks before the U.S. Open.

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The 39th edition of the Bank of the West Classic will take place from July 27th – August 2nd, at the Taube Family Tennis Stadium, Stanford University. The Bank of the West Classic is the longest-running women-only professional tennis tournament in the world and is the first stop of the Olympus US Open Series. A Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Tier II event, the Bank of the West Classic is a well-established Bay Area event and features a 32-player singles draw and a 16-team doubles draw with total prize money of $700,000. Held on Stanford University’s campus at Taube Family Tennis Stadium since 1997, former champions include: Billie Jean King, Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova, Andrea Jaeger, Monica Seles, Martina Hingis, Lindsay Davenport and Venus Williams. Serving up the best in women’s tennis, exceptional television coverage and with 33,000 expected to be in attendance throughout the week, the Bank of the West Classic is sure to provide world class entertainment for all ages.

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