Carsten Ball

Courtesy of AAP:

Carsten Ball gets US Open wildcard August 18, 2010 - 2:39PM

Big-serving Carsten Ball will join fellow Australians Lleyton Hewitt and Peter Luczak in the upcoming US Open after being awarded the discretionary wildcard.

Ball achieved a career-high ranking of 108 last month after winning an ATP Challenger title in Lexington.

"I have been looking forward to the US Open since last year when I played Novak Djokovic in the second round," said Ball.

"I know I lost the match but it was a great learning experience and something that I think has helped me develop as a player.

"So I am really keen to test my game against the best players in the world in grand slam conditions."

Hewitt and Luczak are the only Australian men ranked high enough to gain direct entry into the final major of the year.

Tennis Australia and the US Tennis Association have a reciprocal arrangement offering one men's and one women's wildcards to their respective grand slam events each year.

The women's wildcard will be announced on Thursday morning, with in-form Jelena Dokic and Sophie Ferguson both in the running.

The other men to receive wildcards on Wednesday (AEST) included former top-five player James Blake, fellow Americans Bradley Klahn, Jack Sock, Ryan Sweeting and Donald Young and Frenchman Guillaume Rufin.

After a disappointing loss to Millot in IW qualifying, big-serving Aussie Carsten Ball has opted to pull out of Miami qualifiers for reasons undisclosed so far.

Roddick's comments about Ball after beating him today:

"I think it is going to be hard for him not to improve as far as his ranking."
"He can play average tennis for most of the year but if you have a weapon like that (serve) it will certainly help the situation."
"He serves huge. His first serve is good, his second serve is great."
"He reminds me of another Aussie (Wayne) Arthurs."
"I like it when it (big serving) comes from my side - it's not much fun when that is flipped."

Ball's recent illness has resurfaced as he was forced to retire after just one set against Rameez Junaid in the Rennes challenger yesterday.

Carsten Ball withdrew from this week's Napoli challenger in Italy with a bout of the flu. He was replaced in the main drawn by local Alberto Brizzi, but is expected to make a recovery to the scene very soon.