2003 U.S. Open

Ft. Lauderdale · July 2-6, 2003

The U.S. Open Table Tennis Championships in Ft. Lauderdale ... the playing ... the beaches ... the spectating ... the beaches ... the shopping ... did we mention the beaches?

733 players will gather for the 2003 U.S. Open at Ft. Lauderdale. They will compete in 58 events, from Men's and Women's Singles to Unrated, from Over 80 to Under 10, from Under 2500 to Under 800, even three rating doubles events and five hardbat events.

Top seeds in the tournament are a variety of players from around the world. The Unofficial seeding for the men's top eight is:

Another player possibly in the mix is Zoltan Varga of Hungary, formerly ranked 115 in the world but not listed in current rankings. 

Two of these players have had much higher rankings. While currently only ranked 44th in the world, Johnny Huang - a finalist in Men's Singles at the 2001 U.S. Open and the 1992 U.S. Open Men's Singles Champion - was ranked  #10 in the world just a few years ago. Lupulesku, the USA National Champion, was previously ranked 18th in the world. Many in the U.S. are familiar with Lundqvist, who won open singles & doubles at the Killerspin Open in Chicago in December, 2002.

On the women's side, it's dominated by Japan, with the top two seeds and four of the top five - but with USA's Wang Chen presenting a major challenge. The Unofficial seeding for the women's top eight is:

The top three women have deceptively low world rankings. Within the last five years, Wang Chen has been ranked #4 in the world, Umemura 14th, and Konishi 17th. Umemura and Konishi are the top two Japanese women. 

Profiles of these and other players, and a complete player and staff listing, will soon go up on the USATT Home Page for the U.S. Open, which is under construction at www.usatt.org/events/2003usopen.

Hong Kong had originally entered the Open with their top players, and the top seeds in both men's and women's would have been from Hong Kong (including two players in the top ten in the world), but they cancelled at the last minute.

Running the U.S. Open will be North American Table Tennis, which is doing it pro bono. NATT runs the highly successful Stiga North American Tour and the North American Teams, as well as the USATT rating system.

In addition to playing, spectating and shopping (did we mention the beaches?), participants can also attend some of the meetings at the Open. Scheduled so far are the following:

• Coaches Meeting, Thursday, July 3, 8:30-10:30PM (USATT Coaching Development Director Dan Seemiller presiding)

• Hardbat Committee, Friday, July 4, 8:00 PM (USATT Hardbat Committee Chair Scott Gordon presiding)

For further info, contact USATT at programs@usatt.org.