WASHINGTON – Mardy Fish, the top-ranked American on the ATP World Tour, will return to the Citi Open, according to Tournament Director Jeff Newman. The Citi Open, an ATP World Tour 500 event, takes place July 28-Aug. 5 at the William H.G. FitzGerald Tennis Center (16th & Kennedy Streets, NW, Washington D.C.).
"We’re thrilled to have the top-ranked American, Mardy Fish, committed early to this year’s Citi Open," said Jeff Newman, Tournament Director and Senior Vice President at Lagardère-Unlimited. "2012 is a big year for the tournament – with a new title sponsor, the inclusion of a WTA women’s event this year and new facility upgrades – and so it’s exciting to also have a top-10 player participating in our event."
Fish has been eager to return to the tournament after being forced to withdraw from the 2011 edition due to a bruised right heel he suffered the week before in the Los Angeles tournament. Now 30, he is currently the top-ranked American, with just over 100 points separating him from the U.S. No. 2, John Isner. Last year he topped Isner to take the crown at the Atlanta Open, bringing his career singles titles total to six. He was also the runner-up at the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Canada and Los Angeles. So far in 2012, he has maintained his top-10 ranking, highlighted by reaching the quarterfinals at the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Miami.
As an ATP World Tour 500 level event, the Citi Open is recognized by the ATP World Tour as one of the top-20 tournaments worldwide and continually attracts the best men’s tennis players from around the globe. Past champions include five-time champion Andre Agassi, three-time champions Jimmy Connors, Guillermo Villas and Andy Roddick, two-time champions Ivan Lendl, Michael Chang and Juan Martin del Potro along with Arthur Ashe, Stefan Edberg, Yannick Noah, James Blake, Lleyton Hewitt, Tim Henman and many more.
Along with a new title sponsor, the 2012 event will include a WTA International Level tournament, offering $220,000 in prize money. This WTA tournament (which was called the Citi Open and held the week before the then-Legg Mason Tennis Classic at the Tennis Center of College Park, Md., in 2011) will be played simultaneously with the ATP World Tour 500 event July 28-Aug. 5, at the William H.G. FitzGerald Tennis Center in Rock Creek Park (16th & Kennedy Streets, NW), Washington, D.C. and collectively named the Citi Open.
An integral part of the sports and entertainment fabric of Washington, DC for 43 years, the Citi Open, a Lagardère Unlimited production, is owned by and benefits the Washington Tennis & Education Foundation (WTEF), which seeks to improve the life prospects for DC area youth.
Tickets for the 2012 Citi Open will go on sale on Thursday, May 10. For more information about the Citi Open and tickets, please visit
www.citiopentennis.com or call the tournament hotline at 202-721-9500.
About Citi
Citi, the leading global financial services company, has approximately 200 million customer accounts and does business in more than 160 countries and jurisdictions. Citi provides consumers, corporations, governments and institutions with a broad range of financial products and services, including consumer banking and credit, corporate and investment banking, securities brokerage, transaction services, and wealth management. Additional information may be found at
www.citigroup.com.
About WTEF
The
Washington Tennis & Education Foundation (WTEF) was founded in 1955 as an organization designed to help disadvantaged youth through tennis. Since then, it has evolved into an organization that provides academic help to at-risk children, by helping them to apply the lessons learned on the tennis court in the classroom and beyond. Today, WTEF is a leader in the best practice of providing academic enrichment, supplemented by tennis and life skills instruction, as a means for developing the skills necessary to achieve academic and personal success. WTEF seeks to improve the life prospects of DC area youth, particularly those from low-income communities, through tennis, educational, and community-building activities that teach discipline, build confidence, and improve academic performance.
About Lagarde`re Unlimited
Lagarde`re Unlimited represents some of the world's best athletes in Sports and Entertainment, including Tennis, Football, Basketball, Rugby, Sailing, Mixed Martial Arts, Fencing, Track and Field, Swimming, Motorsports, Cricket, Golf, Coaches, Living Legends and Entertainment. Lagarde`re Unlimited also works in the areas of broadcast rights, corporate marketing initiatives, and sports properties for sales/sponsorship opportunities. The company operates worldwide with offices in NY, LA, DC, Miami, Paris, and Singapore. Currently, Lagarde`re Unlimited represents some of the best sporting clients around the globe: including Andy Roddick, John Wall, Dwight Howard, Reggie Bush, Sachin Tendulkar, Joakim Noah, Se´bastien Chabal, Gae¨l Monfils and Caroline Wozniacki.