Pegula, Gauff, Tiafoe among stars coming to Mubadala Citi DC Open

A combined seven current top-10 players on the ATP and WTA Tours headline the first group of players coming to the District this summer for the Mubadala Citi DC Open.  

The first group of player commitments, announced by the tournament Wednesday, totals 15, with eight on the men’s side and seven on the women’s for the newly-combined 500-level event taking place July 29-Aug. 6 at Rock Creek Park.

The WTA field includes four top 10 women, including two Americans and doubles teammates: World No. 3 Jessica Pegula and world No. 6 Coco Gauff. Pegula, the highest-ranked American, won the D.C. event in 2019 and has reached one final (Doha) and three semifinals on tour this season.

The 19-year-old Gauff is the youngest player ranked in the WTA top 40, and won her first career title early this year in Auckland before the Australian Open. She reached the finals of Roland Garros last year, but was knocked out of this year’s tournament in the quarterfinals Wednesday by current world No. 1 Iga Swiatek.

Both have won doubles titles in the District before their current partnership — Gauff in 2019, and Pegula last year. Joining them in the women’s field are world No. 5 Caroline Garcia of France, first-time entrant and world No. 9 Daria Kasatkina, two-time Grand Slam champion Victoria Azarenka, 2015 champion Sloane Stephens, and Elina Svitolina, who received a wild card for this year’s tournament.

The biggest announced star on the men’s side is world No. 2 Daniil Medvedev. A five-time winner on the ATP Tour already in 2023, he broke through in 2021 for his first Grand Slam title at the U.S. Open.

With respect to Medvedev, the biggest star in D.C. among most fans will likely be hometown hero Frances Tiafoe. The Hyattsville native and current world No. 12 will play again in his hometown tournament after a three-set quarterfinal loss to eventual champion Nick Kyrgios last year. Tiafoe picked up his second career title earlier this season in Houston.

As for Kyrgios, he will return to defend his titles — singles and doubles — which will be some of his first action of the year. The Australian has not played at all in 2023 while nursing a knee injury and is preparing for the upcoming grass-court season and Wimbledon, where he reached his maiden Grand Slam final in 2022.

Joining them in the men’s field are the top-ranked American man, world No. 8 Taylor Fritz, world No. 10 Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada, three-time Grand Slam champion Andy Murray of Great Britain, Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov, and Frenchman Gael Monfils, who, like his wife Svitolina, received a wild card into the main draw.

Additional players will be announced in the coming weeks. The tournament, founded in 1969, was rebranded earlier this month after merging with the Silicon Valley Open. Now called the Mubadala Citi DC Open, it’s the only combined ATP and WTA 500-level event in the world.