The Atlanta Tennis Championships will bring professional tournament tennis to Atlanta for the first time since 2001, when the Atlanta Tennis Challenge closed for lack of a sponsor.
The ATP World Tour event will be held at the Atlanta Athletic Club in Johns Creek and will run Monday through July 25. It's the first event of the U.S. Open Series, the 10-tournament prelude to the U.S. Open.
To secure the tournament, the U.S. Tennis Association's Southern Section purchased the sanction of the Indianapolis Tennis Championships in December 2009 from the ATP tour.
Here's more pertinent information about the event:
Where is the Atlanta Athletic Club?
The club is off Ga. 141, west of Duluth and about eight miles north of I-285.
Where is parking?
Parking is across the street from the club and costs $10.
How much are tickets?
Daily prices rise over the course of the week. Grandstand seats start at $29 for Monday's and Tuesday's rounds and go up to $44 for the final. The most expensive daily seats, the "platinum" box seats, start at $52 for Monday and Tuesday and increase to $99 for the final.
With the addition of Andy Roddick to the field Thursday, sales picked up. Tournament officials expected later sessions to be sold out by Saturday.
Packages and group discounts are available. Also, tickets are available for qualifying matches on Sunday. For more information, go to www.atlantatennischampionships.com.
Will it be on TV?
Beginning Friday, the Tennis Channel and ESPN2 will deliver a combined 12 hours of coverage.
When do matches start?
Monday through Thursday, first- and second-round matches will start at 4 p.m. For Friday's quarterfinals, there will be two sessions, one begins at noon and the second at 7 p.m. On Saturday, semifinals singles and doubles matches will be played in two sessions, at 1:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. On July 25, doubles finals begin at 12:30 p.m., singles at 3 p.m.
Will Roger Federer be there?
No, the 16-time grand-slam winner will not be present. However, there will be a handful of names that a casual Atlanta tennis fan would recognize, including Andy Roddick, Lleyton Hewitt, James Blake and Mardy Fish, along with Georgia grad John Isner and Kennesaw's Robby Ginepri.
When do Isner and Ginepri play?
It's not certain yet. Schedules for the following day will be posted about 8 p.m. daily. As one of the top four seeds, though, Isner will receive a first-round bye and won't play his first match until Wednesday.
What's the format?
The tournament has a 28-player singles field and a 16-player doubles draw. The top four singles seeds have first-round byes. In the 28-player singles field, 21 spots go to players based on ranking. Four players will make the field through qualifying from Saturday through Monday. Three players receive wild cards from the tournament. The eight players with the highest rank will be seeded. The remaining players are placed randomly in the draw.
Can I get autographs?
Your best bet probably is when players are on the practice courts. On days when they play, players generally practice two to four hours before their matches. As a general rule, "Mr. Isner" yields better results than, say, "HEY, JOHN!"
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