One of the redeeming qualities of the Western & Southern Open is that every summer some of the biggest names in professional tennis converge on Mason but in addition to the stars, there are usually some local angles to follow and support.
Peyton Stearns and JJ Wolf fit right into that category.
They may be coming from different places – Wolf is making his fourth consecutive appearance at the W&S Open; Stearns is making her first – but in just over a week they'll both be in the same place: home.
Stearns and Wolf were awarded wild cards Friday into the singles qualifying draw on Aug. 14-15 at the Lindner Family Tennis Center. They need to win two qualifying matches to play their way into the main draw.
Wolf and Stearns join Madeira native Caty McNally, who already earned a main draw wild card, in the field as locals.
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Stearns was born and raised in Mason. She went to grade school at St. Margaret of York then took online classes for high school.
Like McNally and Wolf, Stearns grew up going to the W&S Open.
"I think I've gone every year since I was about 7 or 8," Stearns told The Enquirer. "Even before I started playing tennis, I was going."
Once tennis got a hold of her, the dream of playing in her hometown tournament soon followed.
"I want to play on center court right here," Stearns said. "It's always been a goal."
Stearns is coming off a breakout freshman season at the University of Texas, where she helped the Longhorns hoist the 2021 NCAA Division I national championship trophy.
Stearns won three out of four matches at the NCAA team championships and earned most outstanding player at the women's tournament, in addition to a spot on the All-American team.
She finished her first collegiate season with an 18-8 singles record and was named Big 12 Conference freshman of the year and first-team All-Big 12.
This summer, Stearns won the singles title at the International Tennis Federation pro circuit 25k tournament in Sumter, South Carolina, only dropping one set in five matches to clinch her first career ITF singles championship.
Stearns said she applied for a wild card last year, "and I honestly didn't think I'd have a good chance of getting it just because I was not ranked that high. But this year, like with NCAA's behind my back and after I won that ITF 25k, I was like, of any of the years I think this would be the best year for me to get the wild card so it was kind of like a maybe in my mind. I don't think anything's a certainty until it is, which now it is."
Stearns is expecting a lot of support when she takes the court in a couple of weeks.
"My family's very big," said Stearns. "And some of them live out of town, but I know they're all gonna fly in to watch me play. I've got a large group of friends in town. They're all changing their plans to come watch me play. Neighbors are telling the other neighbors so like the whole neighborhood is gonna come."
In each of Wolf's first three appearances at the W&S Open, he's had quite the support system there to watch as well.
Battling back from injury, Wolf was awarded a wild card spot for the 2020 US Open shortly after qualifying for the W&S Open last season. Upsetting 29th-seeded Guido Pella and defeating Roberto Carballés Baena in the first two rounds, Wolf became the third Ohio State alum to reach the third round in the US Open. Wolf has also claimed four career titles on the ATP Challenger Tour.
At Ohio State University, Wolf became the ITA All American Singles Champion in 2018 on his way to earning Big Ten player of the year and All-American honors in 2019.
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