ORLANDO, October 31, 2023 (USTA Press Release)
This week’s women’s and men’s leaders in the Australian Open Wild Card Challenge are below. The women’s challenge ends this week, while the men’s challenge enters the second week of its four-week window.
The women’s player rankings, listed below in parenthesis before their challenge point total, are their LIVE rankings, as the official WTA rankings will not update until next week, following the WTA Finals. The men’s rankings listed are this week’s ATP rankings.
Women’s Standings
1. Emina Bektas (82) — 271
2. Kayla Day (87) — 112
3. Claire Liu (94) — 110
4. McCartney Kessler (231) — 100
5. Katie Volynets (109) — 71
6. Jennifer Brady (224) — 65
Men’s Standings
1. Brandon Nakashima (151) — 9
2. Kyle Kang (668) — 8
The women’s schedule this week includes the 125-level Dow Tennis Classic in Midland, Mich., which will award 160 points to its singles champion, 95 points to its runner-up and 57 points to the other two semifinalists.
The men’s schedule this week includes the first of three consecutive ATP Challengers in the U.S., in Charlottesville, Va., after an ATP Challenger in Las Vegas, originally scheduled for last week, was canceled.
The Challenge utilizes indoor and outdoor hard-court and carpet professional tournaments to award an American man and woman a main draw wild card into the 2024 Australian Open. The USTA and Tennis Australia have a reciprocal agreement in which main draw wild cards for the 2024 Australian Open and US Open will be exchanged.
The women’s wild card will be awarded to the American with the most ranking points earned at a maximum of three tournaments during a five-week window, running through the week of October 30. All indoor and outdoor hard-court and carpet events at the 25 level and above, including WTA Tour events, will be included in the Challenge.
The men’s wild card will be awarded to the American with the most ranking points earned from a maximum of three events during a four-week window, running through the week of November 13. All indoor and outdoor hard-court and carpet events at the 25 level and above, including ATP Tour and Challenger events, will be included in the Challenge.
Ranking points earned in the main draw and qualifying will be counted toward each player’s Challenge point total. Should the player with the highest number of Challenge points earn direct entry into the Australian Open, the wild card will go to the next eligible American in the Challenge points standings. In the event of a tie for the men or the women, the player with the best singles ranking on the Monday immediately following the conclusion of the Challenge will earn the wild card. Americans who otherwise earn direct entry into the Australian Open are not eligible.
