Former World No. 5 Tommy Robredo is continuing his comeback to the ATP World Tour
after an injury derailed much of his 2012 season. The Spaniard has won 10 career titles
and has reached five Grand Slam quarterfinals. American James Blake, former World
No. 4, also has 10 career titles and defeated then-World No. 2 Rafael Nadal to reach
the 2006 BNP Paribas Open finals. Kimiko Date-Krumm turned pro in 1989 and is
currently the oldest player in the top 100 at 43 years old. The former World No. 4 has
eight career singles titles and four doubles titles, including one in 2013 at Pattaya City.
In addition to Blake, seven other Americans have been granted wildcards into the main
draws including two-time NCAA Champion from USC Steve Johnson, who reached the
third round of the 2012 US Open; Milwaukee native Tim Smyczek, who is at a careerhigh ranking just outside the top 100 and pushed World No. 4 David Ferrer to four sets
at the 2013 Australian Open; 19-year-old breakout star Madison Keys, who has already
defeated five top-50 players in 2013 and cracked the top 80 earlier this month; WTA
veteran Bethanie Mattek-Sands, who won the 2012 Australian Open Mixed Doubles
title; another USC standout – Maria Sanchez, who is at a career-high ranking after
jumping 560 ranking places in 2012 – more than any other player in the WTA; Georgia
native Melanie Oudin captured her first WTA title last year in Birmingham (UK); and 17year-old Taylor Townsend, who turned professional in 2012 after reaching the top of the
junior rankings earlier that year.
Two other international players receiving main draw wildcards are Israeli Shahar Peer,
who was a BNP Paribas Open quarterfinalist in 2007 and 2011 and reached a careerhigh ranking of No. 11 and French teenager Kristina Mladenovic, who is at a career-high
ranking after defeating three top-25 players to reach the Paris semifinals earlier this
year.
“This year’s main draw wildcards span from seasoned veterans, to rising American and
international stars to those returning from injury,” said Simon. “Awarding wildcards to
players like David Nalbandian, James Blake, Madison Keys and Taylor Townsend add
to the allure of early-round matches for fans and provide the potential for these
deserving athletes to break through and make a move up their respective Tour’s
rankings.
Qualifying wildcards were given to Americans Christian Harrison, Jack Sock, Rhyne
Williams, Dennis Novikov, Grace Min, Jessica Pegula and Irina Falconi, German
Andrea Petkovic and Croatian Ajla Tomljanovic.
Harrison, the 18-year-old younger brother of American No. 6 Ryan Harrison, reached
the quarterfinals in doubles with his brother at the 2012 US Open and is making his
debut to the BNP Paribas Open. Sock is at a career-high ranking after reaching his first
ATP World Tour quarterfinal in Memphis earlier this month. Williams, a former
University of Tennessee standout, is also at a career-high ranking after capturing the
ATP Challenger tour title in Dallas. Novikov, who won the 2012 BNP Paribas Open prequalifying tournament, is now a sophomore playing at UCLA and won the 2012 USTA
Boys Championships in Kalamazoo. Min won the 2011 US Open Junior Championship
and three ITF titles in 2012. Pegula won two matches in the qualifying tournament to
reach the 2012 BNP Paribas Open main draw. Falconi cracked the WTA top 100 in
2011 and has won 4 ITF singles titles.
Petkovic is a former World No. 9 and has reached the quarterfinals in every Grand
Slam. She is returning to tennis after a series of injuries kept her from competing
consistently for more than a year. Tomljanovic has three ITF singles and 3 ITF doubles
titles.
In addition to the aforementioned qualifying wildcards, the winners of each prequalifying tournament, which takes place February 25 – March 2, will also be granted a
berth into the 2013 BNP Paribas Open qualifying draw. Women’s qualifying starts
March 4 and men’s qualifying begins March 5 at 10:00am.
About the BNP Paribas Open
The BNP Paribas Open is the largest ATP World Tour and WTA combined two-week
event in the world, offers more than $12,000,000 in prize money, and is the only event
to provide the Hawkeye line challenge system on all match courts. In 2012, more than
370,000 people attended the event. Visit www.bnpparibasopen.com to purchase tickets
online and view the calendar of events, listing of main draw singles players, schedule of
matches and more. Indian Wells Tennis Garden Box Office, 800-999-1585 or 760-2008000, 78-200 Miles Avenue, Indian Wells, CA.
About BNP Paribas
BNP Paribas (www.bnpparibas.com) is one of the best rated banks in the world*. The
Group has a presence in more than 80 countries and more than 200,000 employees,
including more than 160,000 in Europe. It ranks highly in its three core activities: Retail
Banking, Investment Solutions and Corporate & Investment Banking. In Europe, the
Group has four domestic markets (Belgium, France, Italy and Luxembourg) and BNP
Paribas Personal Finance is the leader in consumer lending. BNP Paribas is rolling out
its integrated retail banking model across the Europe-Mediterranean zone and boasts a
large network in the western part of the United States. In its Corporate & Investment
Banking and Investment Solutions activities, BNP Paribas also enjoys top positions in
Europe, a strong presence in the Americas and solid and fast-growing businesses in
Asia. *Rated AA- by Standard & Poor's.
BNP Paribas and Tennis
2013 will see BNP Paribas celebrate the 40th anniversary of its partnership with the
French Open, Roland Garros. Since this first historical commitment, BNP Paribas has
extended its partnership with tennis across the world and to all levels of the sport - both
individual and team competitions, wheelchair tennis, local family clubs as well as the
professional game; from those just learning the game to those competing in the top
tournaments on the pro circuit. Building on this, BNP Paribas
launched wearetennis.com; a website entirely dedicated to tennis news. It is a unique
initiative which provides tennis fans with a constant flow of information on tennis events
with coverage of all the ATP, WTA and ITF tournaments. Today BNP Paribas is the
world number one sponsor of tennis: Official sponsor of Roland Garros, title sponsor of
the TEB BNP Paribas WTA Championships, sponsor of 4 ATP Masters 1000 events
(BNP Paribas Masters, Monte Carlo Rolex Masters, Internazionali BNL d'Italia - Rome,
BNP Paribas Open - Indian Wells), title sponsor of the Davis Cup and the Fed Cup by
BNP Paribas, Partner of the Brussels Open with BNP Paribas Fortis, partner of the
Bank of the West Classic - California, the Grand Prix Hassan II - Casablanca, the Grand
Prix SARS Leila Meriem - Fès, the Open 13 - Marseille, the Moselle Open, the BGL
BNP Paribas Luxembourg Open, the AEGON Championships - London, the Open de
Nice, the Open Sud de France, the BNP Paribas Showdown - New York, the BNP
Paribas tennis classic – Hurlingham, and the BNP Paribas Zurich Open.
Other partnerships BNP Paribas has formed over the years include with international
wheelchair tennis (the BNP Paribas Open, the BNP Paribas World Team Cup) and the
Junior and the university tennis (the Davis Cup and the Fed Cup by BNP Paribas, the
Master’U BNP Paribas, the BNP Paribas Cup, the BNP Paribas National Tennis
Academy of Dublin, the BNP Paribas Junior Tennis Masters-Athens). BNP Paribas is
currently working through partnerships with more than 20 local tennis federations and
more than 550 amateur tournaments across the world and supports many charities
which aim to educate children by teaching them to play tennis.