The BB&T Atlanta Open will start with a rematch of last year’s U.S. Open final.
That’s right.
The ATP men’s event kicks off with a women’s exhibition match Sunday night featuring Sloane Stephens and Madison Keys on Stadium Court at Atlantic Station. The two met in the 2017 U.S. Women’s Open final in a match won by Stephens.
The BB&T Atlanta Open is the only ATP men’s event that opens play with a women’s exhibition match. Stephens is ranked No. 3 and Keys is ranked No. 12 on the WTA Tour.
“Coming here at a men’s tournament and playing is super cool,” Stephens told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution before the match. “I think we’re doing our part on the women’s side to make sure that we implement women’s tennis a little bit everywhere we go.”
The match was rained out due to inclement weather soon after it started Sunday night.
U.S. women’s tennis got a recent boost from Serena Williams’ run in Wimbledon.
“We have a lot of great players in the top 100,” Stephens said of the state of U.S. women’s tennis. “There’s a lot of young players coming up, a lot of great juniors. I think we’re in the best position we’ve been in in a long time. We have like three, four players in the top 20, which is really awesome. We’re actually in a really good position.”
Stephens is accustomed to the crowds who swarm her matches and is conscious of the platform she has when representing U.S. women’s tennis.
“We’re trying to do the best we can to advocate for women’s sports and women’s tennis,” she said. “We do what we can when we can.”
It’s working.
Twice as many American women ranked in the top 20 in the world than men.
The Atlanta Open began Sunday morning with four qualifying matches. In those matches: Alex Bolt defeated Denis Kudla, Thanasi Kokkinakis defeated Hubert Hurkacz, Noah Rubin defeated Jason Jung and Prajnesh Gunneswaran defeated Tommy Paul.
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