Wimbledon Player Gets Wildcard To Nielsen Tourney

Fresh from Wimbledon, James Blake is the main draw wildcard for the USTA's Nielsen Pro Tennis Championship beginning Monday in Winnetka.

Blake lost in five sets to Marcos Baghdatis in the first round at Wimbledon.

This the the 20th year that the has hosted the $50,000 USTA Pro Circuit Challenger. The players who participate have a world ranking between 40-200 and they compete to improve their rank and advance to bigger tournaments, according to a press release.

Blake's current ATP ranking is 102 and he won the Nielsen Pro Championship doubles title in 1999 with his brother Thomas.

Below are the names, ranking and home country of the 22 main draw players:

Ball, Carsten AUS 209

Bester, Philip CAN 245

Bubka, Sergei  UKR 230

Capdeville, Paul  CHI 139

Chiudinelli, Marco   SUI 201

Dabul, Brian  ARG 149

De Voest, Rik   RSA 154

Jones, Greg     AUS 221

Kendrick, Robert  USA 96

Klec, Ivo SVK 236

Kuznetsov, Alex   USA 214

 Polansky, Peter CAN 240

Pospisil, Vasek   CAN 211

Reynolds, Bobby  USA 141

Russell, Michael  USA 91

Sela, Dudi   ISR 94

Smyczek, Tim USA 186

Soeda, Go JPN 130

Udomchoke, Danai   THA 220

Weintraub, Amir  ISR 223

Wolmarans, Fritz RSA 202

Young, Donald  USA 124