Top World Ranked Men’s Professional Tennis Players to Headline in the 15th Annual Challenger of Dallas
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DALLAS, TX — The 15th Annual Challenger of Dallas welcomes former Top-10 player, Tennis Masters Cup finalist, Davis Cup champion and Beijing Olympics semifinalist, James Blake.
This will be Blake’s second appearance in the Challenger of Dallas; however, things have changed quite a bit since his last appearance. In 1999, Blake lost in the Round of 16 to Glenn Wiener in the second year of the Challenger of Dallas when the pro tournament was played outdoors.
Since that time Blake has joined the upper echelon of the world’s tennis pros, winning 10 ATP Tour singles titles and climbing to No.4 in the world. Blake helped seal the United States’ Davis Cup championship over Russia in 2007 and was a quarterfinalist at the US Open twice as well as a quarterfinalist at the Australian Open.
One of Blake’s most notable wins was his straight set victory over Roger Federer in the quarterfinals of the 2008 Olympics.
Blake’s career has not been without its struggles. In 2004 Blake crashed into a net post in Rome resulting in a broken neck and later that same year was struck with Zoster, a condition that affects hearing and vision and caused temporary paralysis to one side of his face. Blake, however, overcame the illness and won two ATP titles the following year as well as finishing the year ranked in the Top 25.
In 2010 Blake suffered a knee injury but again made a comeback with wins at Sarasota, Florida and Winnetka, Illinois the following year. The 2011 season was also the year Blake made history by hitting the fastest recorded forehand at 125 mph during
his first round victory over Jesse Huta Galung at the US Open.
Blake is also known for his annual fundraisers, which have raised over three million dollars for cancer research. He has also cracked the Top 15 of the New York Times Best Seller list with his book “Breaking Back: How I Lost Everything and Won Back My Life.”

Also competing in the 2013 Challenger of Dallas is former No.1 Doubles Player, Mark Knowles.
This Southlake, Texas resident will make his fourth appearance at the Challenger of Dallas this year. Knowles and partner Robert Kendrick fell short in the semifinals last year against the eventual champions, Chris Eaton and Dominic Inglot. This three-time grand slam champion will be attempting to capture one of the few doubles titles that have eluded him over his career.
Knowles has played singles in Dallas, losing in the Round of 16 in both 1998 and 1999. But Knowles — currently the coach of Mardy Fish — has had plenty of success over his 21-year career. With teammate Daniel Nestor he has won doubles titles at the French Open, the Australian Open and US Open and was come up just short in the 2002 Wimbledon doubles finals. He did, however, win a Wimbledon mixed doubles title in 2009 with German Anna- Lena Gronefeld.
In all, Knowles has 55 career doubles titles, has been a doubles finalist 44 times and was the No.1 ranked doubles player in the world multiple times. He also played singles and doubles for the Bahamas Davis Cup team and holds the country’s record for most total wins (41) as well as being a five-time Olympian.
Knowles also hosts an annual charity event in the Bahamas every year, the Mark Knowles Celebrity Tennis Invitational that has raised over $1 million dollars.
This year we are excited to have undoubtedly the best collegiate player of all time, Steve Johnson.
He went undefeated in singles to claim his second straight NCAA singles title and led USC to its fourth team title in Johnson’s four years at the school. He then transitioned to the professional ranks,where he reached the round of 16 at the Emirates Airline US Open Series event in Atlanta and followed that up by winning the $100,000 USTA
Pro Circuit Challenger in Aptos, Calif., to earn a wild card into the US Open.
In Flushing Meadows, he reached the third round in singles, the best finish by a reigning men’s NCAA champion since Sargis Sargsian in 1995. Following the US Open, Johnson advanced to the semifinals at the $100,000 event in Tiburon, California. In 2011, as an amateur Johnson won two singles titles and one doubles title on the USTA Pro Circuit and played in the main draw of the US Open. That same year, he was named a practice partner for the U.S. Davis Cup team.
Japan’s No.2 player, Go Soeda, to make his second appearance in the 2013 Challenger of Dallas this year. The last time Go Soeda was at the Challenger of Dallas, the Japanese rising star lost to the eventual singles champion, Ryan Sweeting in the Round of 16.
That was 2010 and Soeda had a world ranking of No.232. Since then, the 28-year-old has climbed to as high as No.47 within the last year after tournament wins in Honolulu, Hawaii, Pingguo, China and Kaohsiung, Taiwan as well as reaching the finals in Singapore.
With this success, Soeda is currently the No.2 player from Japan behind another former Challenger of Dallas player — Kei Nishikori. The tremendous success of both players has made them national heroes and a strong driving force in the rise in popularity and competitiveness of the sport in Japan.
Soeda, currently ranked No.73 in the world, will look to be the first player from Japan to win a title at the Challenger of Dallas, which runs Feb. 2-9, 2013.
Tickets to the event can be purchased online at www.ChallengerofDallas.com or at tickemaster.com
