Tennis Atlantic

HALEP, DIMITROV, RAONIC, STEPHENS ACCEPT WILD CARDS; ADDS NEXT-LEVEL PRESTIGE TO CITI OPEN®

New additions bring WTA Tour No. 2, two Top 10 Players on the ATP World Tour and Women’s Singles Past Champion to the Capital Tennis Tradition

WASHINGTON (July 19, 2017) — Simona Halep, currently ranked No. 2 on the WTA Tour, ATP World Tour No. 9 Milos Raonic, ATP World Tour No. 10 Grigor Dimitrov, and 2015 Citi Open Champion Sloane Stephens have all accepted wild cards to the Citi Open® Tennis Tournament. The Capital Tennis Tradition will be held July 29-August 6 at the Rock Creek Park Tennis Center.

Halep will compete in the Washington tournament for the first time in her career, following her impressive run to the quarterfinals at Wimbledon. She also reached the French Open finals earlier this year, for the second time in her career. She has a total of 15 titles, returning to her career-high ranking of No. 2 this year, after first reaching the ranking in 2015.

Stephens is making a comeback to tennis, after an injury kept her sidelined following the 2016 Olympics. She won her first WTA Tour title at the Citi Open in 2015.

With the addition of Raonic to the roster, the tournament now boasts four of its most recent men’s singles champions competing for the title. The tournament has previously announced that three-time champion Juan Martin del Potro, defending champion Gael Monfils, and 2015 champion Kei Nishikori will return to Washington this summer.

Raonic returns to D.C. following his impressive run to the Wimbledon quarterfinals. In 2014, he prevailed over Vasek Pospisil at the Citi Open, in the first all-Canadian ATP World Tour final. Meanwhile, Dimitrov is back for the fifth time following a successful run to the Australian Open semifinal earlier this year and winning two Tour titles so far in 2017.

Dimitrov and Raonic add to a total of four ATP World Tour Top 10 players in this year’s field, including World No. 7 Dominic Thiem and World No. 8 Nishikori.

“As the title sponsor of the Citi Open, we are thrilled to see such an exciting and competitive field take shape in both the women’s and men’s events,” said Dermot Boden, Chief Brand Officer, Citi. “In addition to bringing world-class tennis to Washington, D.C., these quality players will draw more attention to the tournament, which means greater awareness and fundraising for the Washington Tennis and Education Foundation, allowing us to help expand the WTEF programs to give children in Washington, D.C. a safe place to build their future.”

The additions further elevate the highly competitive player field, which also includes World No. 11 Alexander Zverev, 2015 finalist John Isner, Olympic gold medalist Monica Puig, Canadian starlet Eugenie Bouchard, American fan favorite Steve Johnson, and top American Jack Sock.

—S. Pegarido, Citi Open