The Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) has confirmed today that World No.19 Kevin Anderson will play at the Aegon Open Nottingham in June.
South Africa’s Anderson, who was beaten by Andy Murray in the final of last year’s Aegon Championships at The Queen’s Club, will be joined at the Nottingham Tennis Centre by Jiri Vesely — the only player to beat World No. 1 Novak Djokovic so far in 2016 — and Pablo Cuevas, who is one of the ATP World Tour’s highest achievers this year.
Vesely, the 22-year-old world No. 59, ended Djokovic’s title defence at the Monte-Carlo Masters last month with a shock 6-4 2-6 6-4 second-round win. The only other loss that 11-time Grand Slam winner Djokovic has suffered this year came in Dubai, when he was forced to retire against Feliciano Lopez in their quarter-final match.
Uruguay’s world No. 25 Cuevas is one of five players to win two ATP World Tour titles this year – only Djokovic has won more major finals in 2016.
The 30-year-old, who collected back-to-back ATP World Tour titles on clay in February, adds his name to an Aegon Open line-up that includes British Davis Cup stars Kyle Edmund, Dan Evans and James Ward — who beat Czech Vesely in the second-round of The Championships, Wimbledon last year.
Also among the familiar faces to compete in the East Midlands are former Nottingham ATP Challenger title winners – including Aegon Nottingham Challenge champions Steve Johnson and Dudi Sela as well as Aegon Trophy winners Gilles Muller and Benjamin Becker.
The Aegon Open Nottingham (ATP) Tournament Director, Paul Hutchins, said: “We have a number of really exciting players joining us at the Aegon Open this year, with Jiri Vesely right up there as a huge talent. He is one of world tennis’ rising stars and at 6ft 6ins he stands as an imposing figure on court. And with 6ft 8-inch Kevin Anderson also joining us, we can proudly say that we have some big hitters with us in Nottingham. The level of competition is going to be great with the British Davis Cup stars in the line-up alongside Pablo Cuevas, who has been one of the year’s top performers on ATP World Tour and will tough for anyone to beat in Nottingham.”
Hutchins also said that further additions to the Aegon Open main-draw line-up will be confirmed in the coming days.
Tara McGregor-Woodhams, Head of Brand and Sponsorship Aegon UK, commented: “The Aegon Open Nottingham was a fantastic addition to the grass court calendar last year and we are delighted to welcome many stars from the ATP World Tour to the city to begin their grass court preparations.”
The Aegon Open Nottingham will see two tournaments take place in June, the men’s ATP event taking place from 18-25 June 2016, and the women’s WTA event being staged from 4-12 June 2016. Both tournaments will be an integral part of the British grass-court season, which features 11 international grass-court tournaments in eight venues across the country.
Fans can watch action at the Aegon Open Nottingham for as little as £5. Visit the tournament website for more details.