Rogers Cup presented by National Bank Wildcards Announced

Canadians Dancevic, Duclos, Polansky and Raonic granted main draw entry

Tennis Canada announced Wednesday the four wild card entries into the men’s singles main draw of Rogers Cup presented by National Bank scheduled for August 7-15 at Rexall Centre in Toronto. Canadians Frank Dancevic, Pierre Ludovic-Duclos, Peter Polansky and Milos Raonic will be among the 56 players competing in the third-oldest tournament behind only Wimbledon and the U.S. Open. Additionally, qualifying wild cards have been determined.

“We are excited to add this Canadian contingent to the main draw at Rogers Cup presented by National Bank,” said tournament director Karl Hale. “They will add an element of homegrown talent alongside a field that is populated with the best tennis players in the world. We have witnessed Canadian magic on home courts before and we look forward to more special moments this year.”

Dancevic, 25, will be making his ninth appearance at Rogers Cup, with his best result coming in 2007 when he reached the quarter-finals in Montreal and achieved a career-high ranking of No. 65 shortly thereafter. The Niagara Falls, Ontario native made his return to action in June of this year after missing nine months recovering from back surgery. He has since reached the quarter-finals at the ATP World Tour 250 event in Newport and the semifinals at the $50,000 Granby Challenger in Quebec. Dancevic is currently ranked No. 368 on the ATP World Tour singles rankings.

Duclos, 24, was granted his first main draw wildcard into Rogers Cup after participating in the qualifying draw in 2009 and 2007. Ranked No. 328, Duclos has been a consistent performer on the ATP Challenger Tour circuit reaching the quarter-finals at two events in 2010. Duclos, from Sainte Foy, Quebec, is also ranked No. 139 in doubles, capturing two Challenger tournaments (Manta, Winnetka) this year and reaching an additional final.

Polansky, 22, is currently the top-ranked Canadian male on Tour at No. 200. This is the fifth time he has received a wildcard into the Rogers Cup main draw, having reached the second round at Montreal in 2009 before falling to Serbian Novak Djokovic. The Thornhill, Ontario resident had his best 2010 result at the ATP World Tour 250 event in Belgrade, reaching the main draw after three rounds of qualifying. He also reached the semifinals at a Challenger in Carson, California and most recently the quarter-finals at the Lexington Challenger in Kentucky.

Thornhill’s Raonic will be participating in his second Rogers Cup tournament after making it through qualifying into the main draw of the 2009 event by defeating two Top 115 players (Michael Llodra, Teymuraz Gabashvili). It was the first time since 1986 that a Canadian male qualified for the event. The 19-year-old is currently sitting at a career-high No. 209 on the ATP World Tour rankings after reaching his first Challenger singles final at the $50,000 Granby Challenger last week. He also captured two Futures events in Korea earlier this season and participated in his first Davis Cup tie for Canada against Colombia in March.

Three wildcards were also decided for the Rogers Cup presented by National Bank qualifying tournament that takes place August 7-8 at Rexall Centre. The 28-player event will determine the remaining seven places into the main draw. Athletes granted qualifying wildcards are Philip Bester (North Vancouver, British Columbia), Steven Diez (Toronto, Ontario) and Vasek Pospisil (Vernon, British Columbia). The final wildcard for qualifying will be determined in the near future.

The official draw for Rogers Cup presented by National Bank will take place atop the CN Tower with Hale and No. 1 tennis player Rafael Nadal on Friday, August 6 at 4:00 p.m.
Tickets are available at www.rogerscup.com or by calling 1-877-2-TENNIS.