The North American summer of tennis will be underway when teenage tennis sensations Coco Gauff and Leylah Fernandez clash in an exhibition match at the Atlanta Open this summer.
Coined "The Sunday Showdown", the WTA will have two of their brightest North American talent competing in an exhibition match on July 24, a day before the ATP-only Atlanta Open begins.
Gauff and Fernandez will square off in what is becoming an annual tradition, which has seen several North American WTA stars like Venus Williams, Sloane Stephens and Madison Keys entertain fans in a light-hearted atmosphere.
Although Fernandez is coming off foot surgery following a fracture suffered at the French Open, the 2021 US Open runner-up has already announced her participation at the Citi Open Washington event this summer, which runs from July 30-August 7, 2022.
Gauff, an Atlanta native, will be competing in front of her home crowd for the first time since storming to superstardom a few years ago.
Growing up in a household where soccer was king, my earliest memories are filled with chants from packed stadiums and the rhythm of a ball being passed across neighborhood streets. But somewhere along the way, the quiet elegance and raw emotion of tennis pulled me in. What began as a curiosity became a lifelong passion; not just for the sport itself, but for the stories it tells: of grit, of heartbreak, of improbable comebacks and human resilience.
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