“To be able to feature the world’s No. 1 player against arguably one of the hottest players in tennis right now in Cori Gauff, it is really special for the tournament, for the area and for our fans,” Oakes said.

The conversations with the two players happened at different times. With Gauff, Oakes said the Winston-Salem Open connected with her after the Wimbledon success. Often times, Oakes said, lining up players for appearances can come down to luck. That came into play with Gauff.

Barty, on the other hand, and Oakes connected at Wimbledon about securing her appearance in Winston-Salem. Turns out, she had some familiarity with the men’s tournament, which is an ATP World Tour 250 event and is part of the U.S. Open Series. Barty’s agent, according to Oakes, represents a few players who competed in previous tournaments.

“When people talk about how everything in life, how things are connected, this is a great example of the hospitality that we showed with the men made a difference in us getting the conversation off the ground with the women,” Oakes said.

The Winston-Salem Open starts on Aug. 17 with qualifying, running through the singles final on Aug. 24.