Washington Preview

The seventh ATP World Tour 500 tournament of the season, the Legg Mason Tennis Classic, gets underway Sunday, with two main draw and six qualifying matches. This year’s field includes 11 of the Top 30 players in the South African Airways 2010 ATP Rankings, led by World No. 8 and Wimbledon runner-up Tomas Berdych, No. 9-ranked and three-time Legg Mason champion Andy Roddick.

The No. 3 seed is wild card and first-time Washington entry Fernando Verdasco of Spain followed by No. 4 Marin Cilic of Croatia, No. 5 and ’07 Legg Mason finalist John Isner, No. 6 Sam Querrey, No. 7 Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland and No. 8 Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus.

There are four former champions in the draw, three-time winner Roddick, Arnaud Clement (2006), Lleyton Hewitt (2004) and wild card James Blake (2002).
TOURNAMENT QUICK FACTS
CITY:   Washington, D.C.
VENUE:  William H.G. Fitzgerald Tennis Center
DATE:   August 1-8, 2010
CATEGORY:  ATP World Tour 500
PRIZE MONEY:  $1,165,500
DRAW:   48 singles / 16 doubles
SURFACE:  Hard
SINGLES FINAL:  Sunday, August 8, at 3 p.m.
DOUBLES FINAL: Sunday, August 8, at noon
FIRST HELD:  1969

2009 FINALS
Singles – (2) Juan Martin del Potro (ARG) d. (1) Andy Roddick (USA) 3-6, 7-5, 7-6(6)
Doubles – Damm-Lindstedt d. (5) Fyrstenberg-Matkowski 7-5, 7-6(3)

RECENT CHAMPIONS/FINALISTS (since 2000)
2009 Juan Martin del Potro/Andy Roddick
2008 Juan Martin del Potro/Viktor Troicki
2007 Andy Roddick/John Isner
2006 Arnaud Clement/Andy Murray 
2005 Andy Roddick/James Blake 
2004 Lleyton Hewitt/Gilles Muller 
2003 Tim Henman/Fernando Gonzalez
2002 James Blake/Paradorn Srichaphan
2001 Andy Roddick/Sjeng Schalken
2000 Alex Corretja/Andre Agassi 
* Bold denotes past champion in 2010 draw

A LOOK AT THE DRAW
Seeded Players (Tournament record, best finish – year)  
1 Tomas Berdych (CZE)   5-2 SF-‘05
2 Andy Roddick (USA)   29-5 W-'07,05,01
3 Fernando Verdasco (ESP)  Debut  
4 Marin Cilic (CRO)   0-1 R32-'09
5 John Isner (USA)   11-3 F-'07
6 Sam Querrey (USA)   1-2 R16-'09
7 Stanislas Wawrinka (SUI)   Debut 
8 Marcos Baghdatis (CYP)   Debut
9 Ernests Gulbis (LAT)   1-1 R32-'09
10 Radek Stepanek (CZE)  1-2 R16-'07
11 Lleyton Hewitt (AUS)  9-3 W-'04
12 Julien Benneteau (FRA)  2-3 R16-'07
13 Gilles Simon (FRA)   Debut
14 Michael Llodra (FRA)  0-1 R32-'07
15 Mardy Fish (USA)   4-5 QF-'06,03
16 Andrey Golubev (KAZ)  0-1 R64-'09

Wildcards: James Blake, Richard Gasquet, David Nalbandian, Fernando Verdasco
Qualifiers: Brian Dabul, Kevin Kim, Igor Kunitsyn, Kei Nishikori, Ryan Sweeting
Youngest: Kei Nishikori (20 years, 6 months)
Oldest:  Rainer Schuettler (34 years, 3 months)
Top Country Breakdown: United States (8), France (5), Argentina (4), Germany, Russia (3)
Former Champions in Draw (4): Andy Roddick (2007, ’05, ‘01), Arnaud Clement (2006), Lleyton Hewitt (2004), James Blake (2002) 
Former Finalists in Draw (4): Andy Roddick (2009), Viktor Troicki (2008), John Isner (2007), James Blake (2005)

Seeded Doubles Teams: (Team Record, best finish – year)
1 Nestor / Zimonjic   2-0 QF-'09
2 Bryan / Bryan    24-6 W-'07,06,05
3 Fyrstenberg / Matkowski  3-1 F-'09
4 Knowle / Ram   Debut

RECENT CHAMPIONS (since 2000)
2009 Martin Damm/Robert Lindstedt (not playing together)
2008 Marc Gicquel/Robert Lindstedt
2007 Bob Bryan/Mike Bryan
2006 Bob Bryan/Mike Bryan
2005 Bob Bryan/Mike Bryan
2004 Chris Haggard/Robbie Koenig
2003 Yevgeny Kafelnikov/Sargis Sargsian
2002 Wayne Black/Kevin Ullyett
2001 Martin Damm/David Prinosil
2000 Alex O'Brien/Jared Palmer
* Bold denotes past champion in 2010 draw

ABOUT THE ATP WORLD TOUR
With 62 tournaments in 32 countries, the ATP World Tour showcases the finest male athletes competing in the world’s most exciting venues. From Australia to Europe and the Americas to Asia, the stars of the ATP World Tour battle for prestigious titles at Grand Slams (non ATP members), ATP World Tour Masters 1000, ATP World Tour 500 and ATP World Tour 250 events. At the end of the season the world’s top 8 ranked men’ssingles players and top 8 doubles teams, based on their performance throughout the year, will qualify to compete in the season’s climax - the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals. To be held at London’s O2 arena, the event will officially crown the 2010 ATP World Tour Champion and determine the final South African Airways 2010 ATP Rankings.