MASON - July 10, 2006 - Every singles winner of the last 14 Grand Slam events and the last 28 Masters Series events, a retiring legend, the two most dominant players in men's tennis, seven current or former world No. 1s, and exciting youngsters who were wild cards here last year. Those are just some of the highlights of the field for the 108th year of Cincinnati's world-class tennis tradition: The Western & Southern Financial Group MASTERS.
Some of the men expected to compete are the two winningest players in the men's game - defending champion and world No. 1 Roger Federer, and French Open champ and world No. 2 Rafael Nadal. If healthy, three-time champion Andre Agassi will be making his final appearance in Cincinnati, while Andy Roddick, a finalist here last year and champion in 2003, will be looking to get to Final Sunday once more.
Also in the field will be comeback star James Blake, top players Andy Murray and Gael Monfils (who were wild cards here last year), and such stars as Lleyton Hewitt, 2006 Australian Open finalist Marcos Baghdatis, and every other star in the men's game.
Also, the tournament has extended one of four of its wild cards to 2000 singles finalist Tim Henman, who is currently ranked No. 64.
Here is the list of players who've committed to the tournament, their rankings as of the date of their commitment, June 26, their ages, their singles records in Cincinnati and their best result in Cincinnati:
The 23 players directly accepted into the main draw and the one known wild card, their countries and their rankings as of June 12:
| Player | From | Rank | Age | Cincy Record | Best Cincy Result |
| Federer, Roger | SUI | 1 | 25 | 7-4 (.636) | W in '05 |
| Nadal, Rafael | ESP | 2 | 20 | 0-2 (.000) | R64 in '04 & '05 |
| Nalbandian, David | ARG | 3 | 24 | 4-3 (.571) | QF in '03 |
| Ljubicic, Ivan | CRO | 4 | 27 | 7-6 (.538) | QF in '01 |
| Roddick, Andy | USA | 5 | 23 | 18-5 (.783) | W in '03 |
| Davydenko, Nikolay | RUS | 6 | 25 | 3-2 (.600) | QF in '05 |
| Blake, James | USA | 7 | 26 | 5-4 (.556) | R16 in '03 & '01 |
| Robredo, Tommy | ESP | 8 | 24 | 7-4 (.636) | SF in '04 |
| Hewitt, Lleyton | AUS | 9 | 25 | 18-6 (.750) | F in '02 & '04 |
| Ancic, Mario | CRO | 10 | 22 | 2-1 (.667) | R16 in '05 |
| Gonzalez, Fernando | CHI | 11 | 26 | 8-4 (.667) | SF in '02 |
| Gaudio, Gaston | ARG | 12 | 27 | 4-6 (.400) | R16 in '03 |
| Stepanek, Radek | CZE | 13 | 27 | 0-2 (.000) | R64 in '03 & '05 |
| Berdych, Tomas | CZE | 14 | 20 | 1-1 (.500) | R32 in '05 |
| Kiefer, Nicolas | GER | 15 | 29 | 7-7 (.500) | R16 in '01 & '99 |
| Baghdatis, Marcos | CYP | 16 | 21 | 0-0 (.000) | N/A |
| Ginepri, Robby | USA | 17 | 23 | 7-4 (.636) | SF in '05 |
| Nieminen, Jarkko | FIN | 18 | 25 | 3-2 (.600) | R16 in '02 |
| Ferrer, David | ESP | 19 | 24 | 1-2 (.333) | R32 in '05 |
| Agassi, Andre | USA | 20 | 36 | 31-10 (.756) | W in '95, '96 & '04 |
| Johansson, Thomas | SWE | 21 | 31 | 5-8 (.385) | QF in '98 |
| Hrbaty, Dominik | SVK | 22 | 28 | 4-5 (.444) | R16 in '05 |
| Monfils, Gael | FRA | 23 | 19 | 2-1 (.667) | R16 in '05 |
| Haas, Tommy | GER | 24 | 28 | 9-7 (.563) | QF in '04 |
| Coria, Guillermo | ARG | 25 | 24 | 5-4 (.556) | QF in '03 |
| Grosjean, Sebastien | FRA | 26 | 28 | 1-7 (.125) | R32 in '00 |
| Andreev, Igor | RUS | 27 | 23 | 0-1 (.000) | R64 in '05 |
| Ferrero, Juan Carlos | ESP | 28 | 26 | 8-6 (.571) | SF in '02 |
| Rochus, Olivier | BEL | 29 | 25 | 2-1 (.667) | R16 in '05 |
| Verdasco, Fernando | ESP | 30 | 22 | 0-2 (.000) | R64 in '04 & '03 |
| Tursunov, Dmitry | RUS | 31 | 23 | 0-2 (.000) | R64 in '05 & '04 |
| Acasuso, Jose | ARG | 32 | 23 | 3-2 (.600) | QF in '05 |
| Massu, Nicolas | CHI | 33 | 26 | 0-2 (.000) | R64 in '04 & '05 |
| Vliegen, Kristof | BEL | 34 | 24 | 0-0 (.000) | N/A |
| Mathieu, Paul-Henri | FRA | 35 | 24 | 2-2 (.500) | R32 in '03 & '05 |
| Serra, Florent | FRA | 36 | 25 | 0-0 (.000) | N/A |
| Soderling, Robin | SWE | 37 | 21 | 3-2 (.600) | R16 in '04 |
| Srichaphan, Paradorn | THA | 38 | 27 | 2-3 (.400) | R16 in '04 |
| Djokovic, Novak | SCG | 39 | 19 | 0-1 (.000) | R64 in '05 |
| Rusedski, Greg | GBR | 40 | 32 | 10-8 (.556) | QF in '01 |
| Youzhny, Mikhail | RUS | 41 | 24 | 6-3 (.667) | QF in '05 |
| Moya, Carlos | ESP | 42 | 29 | 13-7 (.650) | W in '02 |
| Malisse, Xavier | BEL | 43 | 26 | 4-6 (.400) | R16 in '02 |
| Murray, Andy | GBR | 44 | 19 | 1-1 (.500) | R32 in '05 |
| Santoro, Fabrice | FRA | 45 | 33 | 11-9 (.550) | QF in '04 & '00 |
| Simon, Gilles | FRA | 46 | 21 | 1-1 (.500) | R32 in '05 |
| Almagro, Nicolas | ESP | 47 | 20 | 0-0 (.000) | N/A |
| Chela, Juan Ignacio | ARG | 48 | 26 | 6-5 (.545) | R16 '05, '04, '03 |
| Lopez, Feliciano | ESP | 49 | 24 | 2-3 (.400) | R32 in '03 & '04 |
| Safin, Marat | RUS | @ | 26 | 8-6 (.571) | QF in '05 & '04 |
| Verkerk, Martin | NED | @ | 27 | 0-1 (.000) | R64 in '03 |
| Henman, Tim * | GBR | 64 | 31 | 16-10 (.615) | F in '00 |
*Entry via wild card
These and other players will be competing in a 64-man draw for a piece of the $2.45 million total purse.
Here's how the 64-man main draw is comprised:
| Direct Acceptance | 51 | Announced today. |
| Wild Cards | 4 | These are four spots in the main draw filled at the tournament's discretion. Henman has been given a wild card, and the final three will be determined between now and the draw ceremony on Friday, August 11. |
| Qualifiers | 8 | Eight players who win two matches in the 32-man qualifier on August 12 & 13 are placed into the main draw. |
| Special Exempt | 1 | A spot left open for a player who would have had to go through qualifying, but who's in the semis in AMS Canada, which are played at the same time as qualifying here. (If this doesn't happen, the spot is used by the next player in line for direct acceptance.) |
| Total | 64 | |
Fifty-one players get directly into the tournament, and the final player on the list of direct acceptances is ranked 49th. Marat Safin and Martin Verkerk used injury-protection to enter, which prevented the 50th- and 51st-ranked players, Richard Gasquet and Alberto Martin respectively, from obtaining direct acceptance. (Gasquet and Martin are first on the list to replace any late withdrawals.)
Some of the players who may have to qualify for the main draw may include Max Mirnyi (who recently took out Blake at Wimbledon), Taylor Dent (who was ranked as high as No. 21 last year) and Jonas Bjorkman (who reached the semifinals at Wimbledon last week). A preliminary qualifying field will be announced July 25.
The 2006 Western & Southern Financial MASTERS will be held August 11-20 in Mason, Ohio. The Western & Southern Financial Group WOMEN'S OPEN will be held July 15-23. For tickets or information click here, or call 513-651-0303. Tickets also are available via TicketMaster at 513-562-4949 or www.ticketmaster.com.
