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Rogers Cup Wildcards Announced Entry into Main Draw

Wimbledon semifinalist Safin joins a trio of Canadians into the main draw

July 10, 2008

Tennis Canada announced Thursday the four wild card entries into the singles main draw of Rogers Cup scheduled for July 19-27, 2008 at Rexall Centre in Toronto. Frank Dancevic, Frederic Niemeyer, Peter Polansky and Marat Safin will be among the 56 players competing in the third-oldest tournament behind only Wimbledon and the U.S. Open.

“We are thrilled to add Marat, Frank, Fred and Pete to the main draw of Rogers Cup,” said tournament director Karl Hale. “They will add excitement and high-level tennis to one of the best player fields in the world.”

Safin, the 2000 Rogers Cup champion, has resurfaced in quite a remarkable fashion. The former No. 1 bolted through to the semifinals at the grass courts of Wimbledon by knocking off Top 10 players Novak Djokovic and Stanislas Wawrinka. Safin, who stands 16th on the ATP’s all-time prize money list is a two-time Grand Slam Champion, having captured the 2000 U.S. Open and 2005 Australian Open.

“I’m excited to return to Toronto where I had my breakthrough on tour in 2000,” said Safin. “I am grateful to Tennis Canada for giving me the wild card and after a great Wimbledon, I feel that I will be a strong competitor at Rogers Cup.” Dancevic, 23, is Canada’s top-ranked singles player. He was a quarter-finalist at the Rogers Cup presented by National Bank last year, dropping a tight three-set match to world No. 2 Rafael Nadal. Dancevic, a native of Niagara Falls, reached the finals at Indianapolis last summer after knocking off American Andy Roddick in the semifinals. He recently upset No. 7 David Nalbandian of Argentina at Wimbledon and is currently in the quarter-finals at the Hall of Fame Tennis Championship in Newport, Rhode Island.

Niemeyer, 32, is a veteran Canadian professional. He is coming off one of his most successful seasons in recent history, which included capturing the Odlum Brown Challenger in Vancouver, where he defeated American Sam Querrey in the Final. Niemeyer (Sherbrooke, Quebec) will join world No. 1 Daniel Nestor as the Canadian doubles team at the Beijing Olympics.

Polansky is a player on the rise. At just 20 years old, he has become a permanent fixture on the Canadian Davis Cup team. The Thornhill, Ontario product jumped nearly 500 spots in his first full year as a professional and was named ITF Player of the Month in January 2007. He earned his first qualifying selection to a Grand Slam in June at Wimbledon and has advanced to the quarter-finals in 10 of the 15 events he has entered this season. Polansky and Niemeyer are currently competing at the Granby Challenger in Quebec.

The official draw for Rogers Cup will take place at Rexall Centre on Saturday, July 19, 2008 beginning at 2 p.m.