Defending women's singles champion Caroline Wozniacki, currently ranked ninth, and 11th ranked Marion Bartoli are the latest players to commit to play in the 2009 Pilot Pen.

With the addition of Wozniacki and Bartoli to previously committed players Dominika Cibulkova, Amelie Mauresmo and Alize Cornet gives the tournament four top 20 players and five in the top 25.

The most recent projected rankings have Wozniacki staying at No. 9, Bartoli falling two spots to 13th, Cibulkova moving up from 13th to 12th, Mauresmo going from 17th to 16th and Cornet going from No. 24 to 23.

On the men's side, Tommy Robredo (expected to move up a spot to No. 14), Mardy Fish (who is projected to leap three spots to No. 22) and Taylor Dent have committed to play in the Aug. 21-29. The complete list of direct entrants into the men's and women's field will be announced next week.

In other news, former Fairfield resident James Blake joins Andy Roddick, Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan on the U.S. squad which will face Croatia from July 10-12 in the Davis Cup quarterfinals.

Trying to attempt a commitment from defending Pilot Pen women's singles champion Caroline Wozniacki was pretty high up on the to-do list of Pilot Pen Tennis tournament director Anne Worcester. But something tells me that the performance of another talented teen has caught her eye.

Melanie Oudin, a 17-year-old from Marietta, Ga., had never won three matches in the same WTA event before this week. But after defeating former world No. 1 Jelena Jankovic 6-7, 7-5, 6-2 Oudin awaits the winner of the Agnieszka Radwanska/Na Li match in the fourth round. Oudin has won three three-set matches. Not a bad effort for a kid who had never won a main draw match in three previous Grand Slam appearances and needed to win three qualifying matches just to get into the Australian Open draw.

Oudin is the first American teen to reach the fourth round of Wimbledon since Serena Williams in 2001. She has already passed Bethanie Mattek-Sands and could move by Jill Craybas to become the No. 3 ranked American woman behind Venus and Serena Williams. Oudin needed to win three qualifying matches just to get into the main draw.

Amelie Mauresmo, the last of the six players who have committed to the Pilot Pen still alive in singles at Wimbledon, is in the first set of her third-round match against Flavia Pennetta.

Christina McHale, a two-time winner of the women's open title at the Yale Summer Championships resulting into entry into the Pilot Pen qualifying draw, was knocked out in the first round of the girls' singles draw at Wimbledon. McHale, the No. 9 seed, lost to Russia's Yana Buchina 6-4, 6-3.

While so many of his fellow Americans (other than Andy Roddick and Jesse Levine) are being sent packing from Wimbledon, Mardy Fish continues to impress.

Facing Janko Tipsarevic, who upset Roddick in last year's Wimbledon en route to his second straight appearance in the fourth round, Fish emerged with a solid four-set win to set up a third-round showdown with Novak Djokovic.

Fish, the first player to commit to play in the 2009 Pilot Pen, is in the third round at Wimbledon for just the third time in seven career appearances. He has been the victim of some brutal draws recently, falling to 10th-ranked Richard Gasquet in the first round in 2008 and losing his opener to then second-ranked Rafael Nadal in 2007. Among the other men's players punching their tickets in the third round today were fellow Pilot Pen commit Tommy Robredo and Marin Cilic, the 2008 men's singles champion in New Haven.

Taylor Dent, the only other player who has been announced as a committed player for the men's Pilot Pen field, put up a gallant effort before falling 6-4 in the fifth set to Spain's Daniel Gimeno-Traver in a first-round match which was completed today. Fellow Americans Sam Querrey and Vince Spadea suffered second-round losses today. Who would have thought that Levine would be the third American men still in the field ahead of James Blake, Robby Ginepri and Querrey? The other question is how long will U.S. Davis Cup captain Patrick McEnroe stay with Blake as his No. 2 singles players considering the struggles Blake has faced in the last two Grand Slams?

Dominika Cibulkova, one of three players committed to the women's New Haven field, rolled to a 6-2, 6-4 win over Urszula Radwanska. Cibulkova will play Russia's Elena Vesnina in the thrd round.

TOP JUNIORS HEADED TO NEW HAVEN
The New England Junior Sectionals, one of the crown jewels on the USTA summer schedule, will begin tomorrow with doubles play while the singles competition will start on Friday at the upper courts at the Connecticut Tennis Center.

The Junior Sectionals is an event featuring the brightest stars in New England(outside of Greenwich which aligns itself with the New York USTA section). The top 32 players, based on their 32 rankings, are invited to compete. Massachusetts and Connecticut typically dominate the event and this year figures to be no different as 64 singles players seeded, 35 are from Massachusetts and another 22 hail from Connecticut.

Leading the way are the Paige brothers of Fairfield. Nolan, who recently wrapped up a brilliant freshman season at Hopkins, is the top seed in the boys' 16 singles draw and seeded second in doubles along with Aaron Revzin of Needham, Mass. Sayer Paige is the top seed both in the boys' 12 singles and doubles events. It is a bit ironic that Nolan Paige drew his Hopkins teammate Brian Astrachan in the first round of singles.

Other No. 1 singles seeds hailing from Connecticut are Weston's Kimmy Guerin (girls' 14s), Southington's Kim Przeszlowski (girls' 16s) and Stamford's Vanessa Petrini (girls' 18s). At least one Connecticut player in on five of the eight top-seeded doubles teams.

The doubles draws are set to wrap up on Friday while the singles championships will be crowned on Tuesday. Hopefully Mother Nature will cooperate.

Speaking of events at the Connecticut Tennis Center, the Yale Summer Championships will be held there with the winners of the men's and women's open singles titles again receiving wild cards into the Pilot Pen qualifying draws. The deadline to register is July 5. Nine players have already registered for the men's open event while there are 10 applicants for the women's open field.

It should be noted that Christina McHale, a two-time winner of the women's open event, doesn't figure to defend her Yale Summer Championships title considering how her career has taken off since last year. She is entered in the juniors' draw at Wimbledon and had a strong run to the third round in the French Open juniors' event and also won the girls' juniors doubles title at the Australian Open along with Ajla Tomljanovic of Croatia. The 17-year-old McHale is ranked 10th in the latest International Tennis Federation world junior rankings. Something tells me she could in line with a qualifying wild card into the Pilot Pen.

The Yale Summer Championships will run from July 9-12.

While it was an early exit for Alize Cornet, one of three women's players to commit to the Pilot Pen Tennis tournament, Taylor Dent is still alive although he has work to do.

Dent, who was in New Haven as the headliner in the tournament's annual free tennis lesson to New Haven middle school students, was lost the first two sets to Spain's Daniel Gimeno-Traver. Dent, playing at Wimbledon for the first time since 2005, rallied to win the third set before the match was suspended.

Cornet lost to Russia's Vera Dushevina 3-6, 6-0, 6-4. Another the other seeds to lose on the women's side is 2008 Pilot Pen finalist Anna Chakvetadze who fell in three sets to Germany's Sabine Lisicki.

Caroline Wozniacki, who beat Chakvetadze in the 2008 New Haven final, appeared to be headed for defeat as well but she rallied for a 5-7, 6-3, 6-1 win over Kimiko Date Krumm. Wozniacki's second-round matchup against Maria Kirilenko is intriguing since Wozniacki has been chosen to wear Stella McCartney tennis apparel, the only tennis player to adorn such attire. Why is this of note? Well, that distinction used to go to Kirilenko, who is wearing Stella McCartney's creations at Wimbledon.

Amelie Mauresmo, who joins Cornet and Dominika Cibulkova as the women's players who have committed early to the Aug. 21-29 Pilot Pen, advanced to the second round with a three-set win over Melinda Czink.

Former world No. 1 players Jelena Jankovic and Ana Ivanovic each needed three sets to win on Tuesday. The biggest names to fall on the women's side were former top 10 players Nicole Vaidisova and Jelena Dokic while 2007 Pilot Pen finalist Agnes Szavay also was knocked out in the first round.

Marat Safin, formerly the world's top-ranked men's player, saw his final Wimbledon end with a loss to American Jesse Levine. Fabrice Santoro, also playing in Wimbledon for the final time, took out No. 33 seed Nicolas Kiefer (who earned a seed after the withdrawal of Rafael Nadal). American Robert Kendrick made a good showing for himself before falling to Andy Murray in four entertaining sets.

Defending Pilot Pen men's champion Marin Cilic has an interesting match tomorrow against big-serving American Sam Querrey. It will be the third match on Centre Court. Dent will be up second on Court 15 to complete his match. Pilot Pen commits Mardy Fish and Tommy Robredo will kick off play on Courts 2 and 4 respectively. Fish will face Janko Tipsarevic while Robredo draws Stefan Koubek. Cibulkova will play Urszula Radwanska in the first match on Court 7.

This is a tale of two events. You turn to NBC and get to see the golfers actually - I know this sounds crazy - but playing golf in the final round of the U.S. Open. However, when you tune into ESPN2 for its Wimbledon coverage you get Suzy Kolber, Patrick McEnroe and Brad Gilbert chattering, then a clip of Roger Federer's post-match press conference and a couple shots of Novak Djokovic warming up. Meanwhile, French Open finalist Robin Soderling is in a battle with Gilles Muller, No. 9 seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga is also in a bit of a tussle.

Fortunately for those fellow DirecTV subscribers, the channel package showing live matches will debut tomorrow. It was supposed to start today but was bumped because the U.S. Open golf tournament stretched into today because of rain-related delays and suspensions earlier in the event.

OK, so you can ignore my previous post about former Fairfield resident James Blake catching a break with a revised Wimbledon draw following the withdrawal of Rafael Nadal.

Instead of having to play the crafty Frenchman Fabrice Santoro in Santoro's final Wimbledon appearance, he drew Italy's Andreas Seppi who came into Wimbledon having lost five more matches than he has won and had a 4-4 career mark at Wimbledon.

However, I warned that it is dangerous projecting anything with Blake because he has a history of unexplainable defeats. Well, you can add Monday's 7-5, 6-4, 7-6 loss to Seppi to the list. It is Blake's second straight first-round exit in a Grand Slam. Here is a report on the ATP's official site about Blake's loss and state of mind at the current time. Seppi is no stranger to New Haven, playing in the event three times in the last four years and reaching the quarterfinals in 2008.

The unfortunate thing for Blake is he failed to take advantage of a generous draw. The only positive aspect for those "the glass is half full type of people" is that Blake's ranking won't take too much of a hit since he lost in the second round last year.

Feliciano Lopez, who lost to Blake in the 2005 Pilot Pen final, was also knocked out in the first round as he fell to Karol Beck 10-8 in the fifth set. Agustin Calleri, a finalist in New Haven in 2006, also suffered an early exit losing to Guillermo Garcia-Lopez in straight sets.

It wasn't all bad news for former Pilot Pen finalists as Mardy Fish, who played for the championship in oth 2007 and 2008 in New Haven, won his first match. Fish was rolling to a straight-set win before Sergio Roitman retired down two sets and trailing 4-1 in the third. Fish was the first player to commit to play in the 2009 Pilot Pen.

Dominika Cibulkova, one of three women's players who committed early to the Pilot Pen, needed three sets before advancing to the second round with a hard-fought win over Julie Coin,

Considering his track record for head-scratching defeats, it can be dangerous to get too far ahead of ourselves when the subject turns to former Fairfield resident James Blake.

In his last Grand Slam event, Blake lost to a qualifier making his Grand Slam singles debut when Blake fell to Argentine Leonardo Mayer in straight sets at the French Open. But on paper, it seems as if Blake's draw got easier after he was moved into Juan Martin del Potro's spot in the draw as del Potro took over the slot originally slated for top-seeded Rafael Nadal. Nadal's withdrawal led to a domino effect which impacted Blake in a positive way - or so it seems.

Instead of having to face to bizarre, unorthodox Fabrice Santoro (in his final appearance at Wimbledon) in the first round, he will now face Italy's Andreas Seppi. Seppi is no pushover, having split matches with Blake on hard courts but he won't be the sentimental favorite that Santoro is sure to see as he heads for retirement at season's end. Blake, if he gets that far, would not have to face No. 10 Fernando Gonzalez. Gonzalez has beaten Blake seven straight times including a contentious match at the Olympics when Blake questioned Gonzalez's sportsmanship or lack thereof in a loss to Gonzalez in the semifinals. Blake contended that a shot hit Gonzalez's racket and then sailed long and expected Gonzalez to concede the point. He did not, went onto win the game to even the third set 9-9. Gonzalez broke Blake in the next game and served out the match to advance to the championship match. I'm sure it is a subject Blake could have done without revisited had the two met in London.

Getting back to the original subject, if Blake beats Seppi (who has a losing record this season) he will face either Marc Gicquel (who Blake is 2-0 against) or Adrian Mannarino. Gicquel is 10-14 this season in ATP main draws while Mannarino is 0-2. Igor Andreev (who is 0-6 against Blake) is the only seeded player Blake would have to play to reach the fourth round.

Of course this is all a case of would've, could've, should've. Blake still has to go out there and take care of business but if he does just that, his road to the fourth round certainly seems as if it is one he should be able to navigate.

BALLKIDS TRYOUTS
Tryouts for ballkids at the Pilot Pen Tennis tournament will be held Saturday, Sunday, July 25-26 from 9 a.m.-noon and from 6-8 p.m. on July 7 and 28 at the upper courts at the Connecticut Tennis Center.

The tryouts are open to kids ages 12-18 and attendance at four or more sessions is mandatory for all candidates. Tryouts will be held rain or shine.

Interested boys and girls ages 12 to 18 will need to be available to work for the entire week of the tournament which will be held from Aug. 21-29. No pre-registration is necessary, but kids should fill out the waiver on www.pilotpentennis.com, and bring it with them to the first tryout they attend.
For the tryouts, potential ballkids should wear sneakers and comfortable clothing, along with a hat. Particularly if the weather is hot and humid they should also bring water.

The tournament is also looking for volunteers to work in player services, transportation, press attendants, safety/security, ushers and court attendants. For more information email volunteers@pilotpentennis.com or call 776-7331, ext. 5842.

On paper, it appears as if the three men's players who have committed to the Pilot Pen Tennis tournament have serviceable draws - at least in the first couple of rounds.

Tommy Robredo, seeded 15th, will face Luka Gregorc in the first round. With a win Robredo will play either Austria's Stefan Koubek or Edouard Roger-Vasselin in the second round. If Robredo makes it to the third round, No. 18 Rainer Schuettler could be waiting.

Mardy Fish, the No. 28 seed, is in the same quarter as Robredo and drew Argentina's Sergio Roitman in the first round. The Fish/Roitman winner will play either Jan Hernych of the Czech Republic or Serbia's Janko Tipsarevic in the second round. Tipsarevic has taken out the No. 6 ranked player in each of the last two Wimbledons en route to Round of 16 appearances so he is a dangerous foe. Speaking of Serbian tennis stars, No. 4 seed Novak Djokovic (who should be plenty motivated after his early exit in the French Open) could be waiting for Fish in the third round and Robredo in the fourth round.

Dent, who had to win three qualifying matches to get into the main draw, will play Spain's Daniel Gimeno-Traver in the first round. A victory would set up a showdown with either 30th-seeded Viktor Troicki of Serbia or Brian Dabul of Argentina. The bad news for Dent is that No. 3 seed Andy Murray, one of the leading championship contenders, figures to be looming if Dent reaches the third round.

Former Fairfild resident James Blake was supposed to have a tricky opening match against the crafty veteran Fabrice Santoro of France, playing in his final Wimbledon. But one of the ramifications of Rafael Nadal's withdrawal is that Blake moves into the slot previously held by No. 5 seed Juan Martin Del Potro. Blake will now face Italy's Andreas Seppi in the first round. In the second round, the two-time Pilot Pen men's singles champion would face a Frenchman as Adrian Mannarino and Marc Gicquel meet in the first round with the winners squaring off in the second round.

Speaking of Nadal, it will be interesting to see how long he is sidelined for. Since he was able to play in two exhibitions, I would saw it should not be a prolonged absence but I am sure Pilot Pen tournament director Anne Worcester will make it clear to Nadal's reps (if she hasn't already) that they would welcome Nadal with open arms. Nadal has never played in the Pilot Pen but did cause a stir when he was on the grounds of the Connecticut Tennis Center for a practice session a couple years back.

On the women's side, No. 17 seed Amelie Mauresmo seems like she has a decent chance to reach the fourth round and a possible matchup with top-ranked Dinara Safina. Mauresmo will play Melinda Czink in the first round with the winner drawing either Katarina Srebotnik or Aiko Nakamura. The only other seed Mauresmo may run into in the third round is No. 17 Flavia Pennetta.

The only other two women's players to commit to play in the Aug. 21-29 Pilot Pen could meet in the third round. No. 14 seed Dominika Cibulkova will face Julie Coin of France in the first round with either Slovenia's Masa Zec Peskiric or Urszula Radwanska of Poland awaiting in the second round. Cornet, the 22nd seed, draws Russian Vera Dushevina in the opening round with either Russia's Elena Vesnina or Belgium's Yanina Wickmayer being the second-round opponent.

If four time Pilot Pen singles champion Venus Williams wins another Wimbledon, it won't be easy. Among those in her quarter of the bracket are former world No. 1 players Jelena Jankovic and Ana Ivanovic as well as Agnieszka Radwanska (seeded 11th) and Sam Stosur (the 18th seed). The good news is she would not meet her sister Serena until the championship match.

For those interested, here is the ESPN broadcast schedule for Wimbledon
DATE TIME (ET) COVERAGE NETWORK
Monday, June 22 7 a.m.–5 p.m. Early Round Day 1 Live ESPN2 / ESPN2 HD
Tuesday, June 23 7 a.m.–5 p.m. Early Round Day 2 Live ESPN2 / ESPN2 HD
Wednesday, June 24 7 a.m.–5 p.m. Early Round Day 3 Live ESPN2 / ESPN2 HD
Thursday, June 25 7 a.m.–5 p.m. Early Round Day 4 Live ESPN2 / ESPN2 HD
Friday, June 26 7 a.m.–5 p.m. Early Round Day 5 Live ESPN2 / ESPN2 HD
Saturday, June 27 8 a.m.–3 p.m. Early Round Day 6 Live ESPN2 / ESPN2 HD
Sunday, June 28 4–6 p.m. Week One Highlights Taped ESPN / ESPN HD
Monday, June 29 7–10 a.m. Round of 16 Live ESPN2 / ESPN2 HD
1–7 p.m. Round of 16 Live ESPN2 / ESPN2 HD
Tuesday, June 30 7–10 a.m. Ladies’ Quarterfinals Live ESPN2 / ESPN2 HD
1–5 p.m. Ladies’ Quarterfinals Live ESPN2 / ESPN2 HD
Wednesday, July 1 7–10 a.m. Gentlemen’s Quarterfinals Live ESPN2/ESPN2 HD
1–5 p.m. Gentlemen’s Quarterfinals Live ESPN2 / ESPN2 HD
Thursday, July 2 7 a.m.–Noon Ladies’ Semifinal Live ESPN2 / ESPN2 HD
8–10 p.m. Ladies Semifinals Highlights Same day ESPN / ESPN HD
Friday, July 3 7–Noon Gentlemen’s Semifinal Live EPSN2 / ESPN2 HD
8–11 p.m. Gentlemen’s Semifinal Highlights Same day ESPN2 / ESPN2 HD
Saturday, July 4 2-3 p.m. SportsCenter at Wimbledon Live ESPN2 / ESPN2 HD
Sunday, July 5 3-4 p.m. SportsCenter at Wimbledon Live ESPN2 / ESPN2 HD

ESPN's list of announcers includes the usual suspects with the exception of Suzy Kolber who will share hosting duties with Chris Fowler. Dick Enberg and Cliff Drysdale will call the matches with assistance from Darren Cahill, Mary Carillo, Mary Joe Fernandez, Brad Gilbert, Patrick McEnroe, Pam Shriver and Bud Collins.

NBC's Wimbledon coverage will begin on June 27 culminating with the televising of the men's and women's singles finals. Here's the complete broadcast schedule

The Tennis Channel will also be providing coverage of Wimbledon. For those staying in tonight, they are showing the classic 2008 Wimbledon final between Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer tonight at 7 p.m. and Saturday at 7:30 (to be preceded by the 1975 Jimmy Connors/Arthur Ashe Wimbledon final).

Here are the hours that The Tennis Channel will be broadcasting during Wimbledon
Date Time (EST)
Monday, Jun. 22 7 PM
Monday, Jun. 22 11 PM
Tuesday, Jun. 23 7 PM
Tuesday, Jun. 23 11 PM
Wednesday, Jun. 24 7 PM
Wednesday, Jun. 24 11 PM
Thursday, Jun. 25 7 PM
Thursday, Jun. 25 11 PM
Friday, Jun. 26 7 PM
Friday, Jun. 26 11 PM
Saturday, Jun. 27 7 PM
Saturday, Jun. 27 11 PM
Sunday, Jun. 28 7 PM
Sunday, Jun. 28 11 PM
Monday, Jun. 29 7 PM
Tuesday, Jun. 30 midnight
Tuesday, Jun. 30 7 PM
Wednesday, Jul. 1 midnight
Wednesday, Jul. 1 7 PM
Thursday, Jul. 2 midnight

Taylor Dent, who is including a trip to New Haven for the Pilot Pen in his comeback tour, played his way through the qualifying draw to earn a spot into the Wimbledon main draw.

Dent, currently ranked No. 269, will play in the main draw at Wimbledon for the first time since reaching the fourth round at Wimbledon.

Speaking of Wimbledon, a wrist injury has knocked out talented French star Gael Monfils out of the event. Here is the report from the BBC

Gael Monfils has been forced to withdraw from Wimbledon with a wrist injury sustained at Queen's Club.

The Frenchman pulled out of the Aegon Championships after his second-round victory over Andrey Golubev.

Monfils, seeded number 14 for the All England Club, will be replaced in the men's singles draw by a lucky loser from qualifying.

Tommy Haas, who beat Novak Djokovic in the Halle grasscourt event on Sunday, is granted a seeding at number 24.

Reports are circulating that a knee injury will keep Marcos Baghdatis out of Wimbledon.

Switching to the women, the Stanford direct acceptance list is out and it is a pretty strong field. This will be of interest when the Los Angeles list comes out. With most of the big hitters expected to play in Canada and Cincinnati, it is unlikely that a player will enter Stanford, LA as well as New Haven since that would mean playing five straight weeks heading into the US Open.

Here's the Stanford list:
Name Country Rank
Serena Williams USA 2
Venus Williams USA 3
Elena Dementieva RUS 4
Jelena Jankovic SRB 6
Nadia Petrova RUS 10
Agnieszka Radwanska POL 11
Marion Bartoli FRA 12
Dominika Cibulkova SVK 14
Samantha Stosur AUS 18
Li Na CHN 19
Aleksandra Wozniak CAN 23
Alisa Kleybanova RUS 26
Sorana Cirstea ROU 27
Sybille Bammer AUT 28
Anna Chakvetadze RUS 31
Daniela Hantuchova SVK 33
Peng Shuai CHN 36
Ai Sugiyama JPN 40
Sabine Lisicki GER 43
Anne Keothavong GBR 49
Melinda Czink HUN 54
Bethanie Mattek-Sands USA 56
Maria Kirilenko RUS 58
Maria Sharapova RUS 59

Coming off a first-round loss in the French Open to a qualifier making his Grand Slam main draw debut, former Fairfield resident and two-time Pilot Pen men's singles champion James Blake was looking to rediscover his form.

Well, getting off the clay seemed to be just what Blake needed. After a first-round bye, he defeated Ivan Ljubicic, Sam Querrey and most recently Mikhail Youzhny to reach the semifinals against second-seeded Andy Roddick at the Queen's Club event, a grass-court tournament in London.

I wasn't able to attend the auditions for on-court singers at the Pilot Pen, heading to UConn to catch up with Caroline Doty and her recovery from a torn ACL before covering a high school baseball game in Middletown. Fortunately, there was a well-done report filed by Annie Rourke of WTNH about the event.

We will be providing periodic updates, speculation, player updates leading up to the 2009 Pilot Pen Tennis tournament and will turn this into an all-things in the world of Connecticut tennis destination.

Starting off, the tournament will be holding auditions for national anthem singers (for contestants age 12 and under) on Wednesday. Here's the release:


SECOND ANNUAL PILOT PEN TENNIS CASTING CALL GIVES CHILDREN CHANCE TO PERFORM “AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL” AT THE 2009 TOURNAMENT

Boys And Girls Age 12 And Under Invited To Audition At The Shubert Theater On June 10; American R&B And Pop Singer-Songwriter JoJo To Judge on Celebrity Panel

NEW HAVEN, Conn., June 4, 2009 – Pilot Pen Tennis today announced it will host the second annual Pilot Pen Tennis Casting Call on Wednesday, June 10 at the historic Shubert Theater in downtown New Haven to select children to perform “America the Beautiful” at the 2009 Pilot Pen Tennis tournament, to be held August 21-29. Winners will perform live on stadium court during all evening sessions of this year’s tournament as well as both men’s and women’s final.

The open auditions, sponsored by Olympus America, are free of charge and will be held from 4:00-8:00 p.m. Children 12 years of age and younger (as of August 29, 2009) will be asked to sing “America the Beautiful” a cappella in front of a panel of celebrity judges, including American R&B and pop singer-songwriter, dancer, and actress JoJo, who’s first two albums have debuted at No. 4 and No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 200. Other celebrity judges include Desiree Fontaine, co-host of WTNH’s Connecticut Style, and a disc jockey from radio station KC101 (WKCI-FM).

"This Casting Call brings together some of our City's greatest treasures: kids, music, the Shubert Theatre and Pilot Pen Tennis," said DeStefano. "This program is a great opportunity to showcase the musical talents of our youth on the national stage of the Pilot Pen."

“Last year’s Pilot Pen Tennis Casting Call and subsequent performances by the children during the Pilot Pen were a resounding success,” said Anne Worcester, Tournament Director. “The Pilot Pen is always seeking to recognize local talent – both on and off the court – and this is yet another way we can showcase that talent.”

This exciting community collaboration will also serve as the kick-off for the Shubert Theater’s annual S.N.A.P. (Shubert Night at A Performance) program. S.N.A.P. is a community outreach initiative serving New Haven’s inner-city neighborhoods by offering community organizations the opportunity to experience cultural and entertainment events at the Shubert Theater. The S.N.A.P. program creates access to the arts for children, families and senior citizens from New Haven’s diverse community.

The Pilot Pen will announce the final selections on June 30, 2009. All
contestants will receive tickets to the Pilot Pen. For more information on the open casting call, including the official rules, log on to Www.pilotpentennis.com.

Now switching to tennis, considering that I saw some familiar names advancing deep in the French Open singles draw, my curiousity got the better of me. I looked up how often the singles quarterfinals on the men's and women's side have played in the Pilot Pen.

On the men's side, while Roger Federer has never been to New Haven, his opponent in the final has. Robin Soderling, who upset Rafael Nadal in the fourth round, reached the second round in 2005 and semifinals in 2006. Semifinalists Fernando Gonzalez and Juan Martin Del Potro played in 2005 and 2007 respectively (Del Potro was supposed to play last year but was a late withdrawal). Tommy Robredo is the only men's quarterfinalist who has committed to the tournament but Nikolay Davydenko has played the Pilot Pen three times (winning in 2006) and Gael Monfils also played in 2005, 2006 and 2007.

For the women, finalists Dinara Safina and Svetlana Kuznetsova (the 2007 champion) have played here twice but neither were in the event last year. Safina would seem to be a longshot if she remains the No. 1 player but both talented Russians figure to be pursued relentlessly by tournament director Anne Worcester. Semifinalist Dominika Cibulkova has already committed to play in New Haven and the other semifinal loser Sam Stosur played every year from 2004-07. While quarterfinalist Serena Williams has not played at the Pilot Pen (although she did have one well-documented late withdrawal), the other quartefinal losers Victoria Azarenka (who lost in qualifying in 2005 and 2006), Maria Sharapova (a second-round loser in 2004) and Sorana Cirstea (a quarterfinalist last year) have all previously played in the tournament.