News

LOS ANGELES — A pair of Grand Slam tournament finalists, two former NCAA Champions and a member of the reigning Davis Cup Championship team are among the players joining top ranked American Mardy Fish, 2009 US Open Champion Juan Martin del Potro and two-time defending champion Sam Querrey for the Farmers Classic, presented by Mercedes-Benz.

The 85th annual Olympus US Open Series and ATP World Tour 250 tournament will take place July 25-31 at the Los Angeles Tennis Center on the campus of UCLA.

Australian Open finalists Marcos Baghdatis (2006) and Fernando Gonzalez (2007),who is a three-time Olympic medalist, along with NCAA Champions Somdev Devvarman (2007-08) and Benjamin Becker (2004) and Janko Tipsarevic of the 2010 Davis Cup Champion team from Serbia are among the 19 players on the initial entry list for the 2011 Farmers Classic, presented by Mercedes-Benz.

Fish, who lives in Los Angeles, is ranked a career-high No. 9 on the ATP World Tour, and became the top-ranked American player on tour in May. del Potro, the 2008 Farmers Classic champion, already owns two titles this season. Querrey, who also has a residence in LA, is looking to join Hall of Famers Fred Perry (1932-34) and Don Budge (1935-37) as the only players to three-peat as Farmers Classic champion.

“We are looking forward to welcoming this very deep field to Los Angeles in July for the Farmers Classic,” said Tournament Director Bob Kramer. “The players in this field have all enjoyed success at many different levels of the game. Having five players who have spent time ranked in the Top 10 in the World coming to LA promises to make the tournament as competitive as ever. There should be very few easy matches for anyone during the week.”

The 19 players listed below will be joined by three wild cards, four qualifiers and two other players who earn either a special exemption or a direct acceptance to form the 28-player singles draw for the tournament:

Once again the Farmers Classic, presented by Mercedes-Benz, will benefit the Southern California Tennis Association. In 2010, the tournament and associated special events raised more than $500,000 for the SCTA and other charities.

Season tickets and mini-plan tickets for the 85th annual Farmers Classic presented by Mercedes-Benz are on sale now. Individual session tickets go on sale Monday, June 20, via Ticketmaster. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit FarmersClassic.com/Tickets or call (310) 824-1010 ext. 251.

ABOUT THE FARMERS CLASSIC PRESENTED BY MERCEDES-BENZ

The Farmers Classic, presented by Mercedes-Benz, has been played every year since 1927, making it the longest-running annual professional sporting event in Los Angeles. Played since 1984 at the LA Tennis Center on the campus of UCLA, the tournament is part of the Olympus US Open Series, the six-week summer tennis season linking 10 ATP World Tour and Sony Ericsson WTA Tour events to the US Open, culminating each week with back-to-back men’s and womens finals every Sunday afternoon. Players battle for $40 million, including a chance for bonus prize money at the US Open. Proceeds from the Farmers Classic Presented by Mercedes-Benz benefit the grassroots programs of the non-profit Southern California Tennis Association (SCTA) and UCLA. The SCTA offers programs, leagues, and tournaments involving 300,000 juniors and 50,000 adults and seniors. Information on tickets and the tournament can be found at FarmersClassic.com or by calling 310-824-1010.

ABOUT FARMERS INSURANCE GROUP OF COMPANIES

Farmers Insurance Group of Companies is the country’s third-largest insurer of both private Personal Lines passenger automobile and homeowners insurance, and also provides a wide range of other insurance and financial services products. Farmers is proud to serve 10 million households with more than 20 million individual policies across all 50 states through the efforts of over 50,000 exclusive and independent agents and nearly 24,000 employees.

Farmers is a trade name and may refer to Farmers Group, Inc. or the Farmers Exchanges, as the case may be. Farmers Group, Inc., a management and holding company, along with its subsidiaries, is wholly owned by the Zurich Financial Services Group. The Farmers Exchanges are three reciprocal insurers (Farmers Insurance Exchange, Fire Insurance Exchange and Truck Insurance Exchange), including their subsidiaries and affiliates, owned by their policyholders, and managed by Farmers Group, Inc. and its subsidiaries. For more information about Farmers, visit our Web site at farmers.com or at Facebook.com/FarmersInsurance.