Two From Florida Men's Tennis Earn U.S. Open Wild Cards
Wednesday, August 15, 2007 | Men's Tennis
University of Florida men's tennis sophomore Jesse Levine (Boca Raton, Fla.) and former Gator Ryan Sweeting (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.) were among the group of seven awarded men's singles main draw wild card entries into the 2007 U.S. Open Tennis Championships, which will be played Aug. 27-Sept. 9 at the USTA Billie Jean King National tennis Center in Flushing, N.Y.
The 2007 U.S. Open will mark the culmination of the U.S. Open Series, the six-week summer tennis season linking all major ATP and Sony Ericsson WTA Tour tournaments in North America to the U.S. Open. The U.S. Open is the highest annually-attended sporting event in the world. More than 95 million viewers watched the 2006 U.S. Open on CBS Sports and USA Network, and international broadcasts reached more than 180 countries.
Levine, 19, is currently ranked 483rd in the world. He just finished his freshman season at Florida with a 24-1 record and ranked No. 3 in the country. He earned All-America honors in both singles and doubles and was named the Intercollegiate Tennis Association National Rookie of the Year. At the tour level, Levine qualified for Delray Beach in January (winning two matches) and Newport in July.
Sweeting, who was a member of the team during the 2006 season, reached a career-high ranking of No. 230 in July after reaching the quarterfinals at three of the four USTA Pro Circuit Challengers he entered.
Levine and Sweeting were among the group of Americans that consisted of Alex Kuznetsov, Wayne Odesnik, Donald Young, Michael McClune and John Isner. Australian Alun Jones received a wild card as well.
