LOS ANGELES - Two-time champion Tommy Haas (2004 and 2006) will return to Los Angeles for the seventh time at the 2009 LA Tennis Open Presented by Farmers Insurance Group. Haas is one of six players committed to the tournament who are seeded in the draw at Wimbledon, which begins today.

"It's always a pleasure to welcome back players who have had success here in LA before," said Tournament Director Bob Kramer. "Tommy is a fan favorite, a great addition to our already strong field, and has played LA more than anyone else in the field. We're excited to follow our participants at Wimbledon this week, and welcome them to LA later this summer."

The 83rd annual LA Tennis Open Presented by Farmers Insurance Group will be held July 27 - August 2, 2009 at the LA Tennis Center on UCLA's campus in Westwood. ESPN2 will broadcast eight hours of live television coverage this year, including singles quarterfinal, semifinal and championship matches. Tennis Channel will again provide additional broadcast coverage.

Haas claimed the Los Angeles title in 2004 and again in 2006. The 31-year-old owns 13 career ATP World Tour titles, and is sixth among active players with 445 career match wins.

The 2007 champion, Radek Stepanek, who has won a pair of titles in 2009 in Brisbane and San Jose, will also be in the field. Fernando Gonzalez, a semifinalist at the French Open, is the highest ranked player on the initial acceptance list, checking in at No. 10.

In addition to those three, other players destined for LA who are seeded at Wimbledon include: Marat Safin, Mardy Fish and 2006 LA Tennis Open Presented by Farmers Insurance Group finalist Dmitry Tursunov. Additional notable entrants include 2006 Australian Open finalist Marcos Baghdatis and Santa Monica resident Sam Querrey.

Haas, Tursunov and Benjamin Becker all enter Wimbledon having won a grass court tournament in the past two weeks. Haas won in Halle in his native Germany, while Tursunov claimed the title just outside of London at Eastbourne and Becker was the winner at 's-Hertogenbosch, The Netherlands.  

In addition to these current stars, four legends of the game will be in LA this summer. Pete Sampras, a two-time LA champion, will return to take on Safin in the "Millennium Challenge," a rematch of the 2000 US Open final. In addition, LA former champions Michael Chang, Jim Courier and Stefan Edberg will play each other during the week.

Here's a look at the full initial acceptance list for the 2009 LA Tennis Open Presented by Farmers Insurance Group with their ATP World Tour Rankings from the week of June 15, 2009.

82 Benjamin Becker (GER)      35 Tommy Haas (GER)          46 Sam Querrey (USA)
49 Arnaud Clement (FRA)       79 Dennis Istomin (UZB)       23 Marat Safin (RUS)
24 Mardy Fish (USA)              76 Robert Kendrick (USA)      47 Dudi Sela (ISR)
40 Marc Gicquel (FRA)            86 Kevin Kim (USA)              22 Radek Stepanek (CZE)
10 Fernando Gonzalez (CHI)   39 Igor Kunitsyn (RUS)          27 Dmitry Tursunov (RUS)
73 Ernests Gulbis (LAT)          64 Yen-Hsun Lu (TPE)          95 Marcos Baghdatis (CYP)
70 Leonardo Mayer (ARG)