As many Stanford students head to New York for the summer for internships, vacationing or visiting friends and family, three underclassmen will travel to the Empire State for a particularly unique reason: to compete in the upcoming U.S. Open. 

Rising sophomore Valerie Glozman — whose recent accolades include being named ITA Northwest Region Rookie of the Year, ACC Freshman of the Year and ITA All-American for singles — can now add a main draw wild card for the U.S. Open to her list of achievements. She earned the wild card through winning the American Collegiate Wild Card Playoffs that took place in June. 

Wild cards in the U.S. Open are invitations extended to players who do not automatically qualify based on their world ranking. Although a wild card player has never won the U.S. Open women’s singles title, all eyes will be on this group, headlined by two-time champion Venus Williams.

Two incoming freshmen, before even stepping foot on Stanford’s courts, also received wild cards. Alyssa Ahn earned one for the singles main draw by winning the singles title at the USTA Billie Jean King Girls’ 18s National Championships, and Monika Ekstrand received one for the U.S. Open Qualifying Tournament.

All three players are 18 years old, and Glozman and Ahn will both be making their Grand Slam main draw singles debuts. Ekstrand and Ahn are also a part of the country’s top recruiting class, and Ekstrand has earned two professional singles titles this year: the River Hills Open in April and the 3D Payments Cup at One Tennis Academy in May. 

The qualifiers are set to begin soon, taking place at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center Aug. 18 to 21. The U.S. Open main draw is set to begin play Aug. 24 and will run through Sept. 7.