By Neil Schmidt
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Luke Jensen roughouses with a Smash Tennis attendee at the ATP Atlanta tournament. (Associated Press photo) | ZOOM |

Mark Woodforde and Luke Jensen - members of tennis' winningest and wackiest doubles teams, respectively - will return to Cincinnati to participate in the annual Seniors Championship of the Western & Southern Financial Masters.

Both are playing in seniors competition for the first time. Jensen, 36, is technically still active on the ATP Tour with his partner/brother, Murphy, but there are no age or retirement mandates for this seniors event.

"It's a nice opportunity," Luke said of playing seniors here. "It's a lot of fun. You can play up to the crowd more."

The Jensens have done plenty of playing to the crowd, establishing a cult following with their antics. They have played in the doubles draw together here eight times, including the last two events.

Yet Luke probably won't double-dip here with both the seniors and doubles main draw, as the doubles field has been reduced by the ATP Tour from 32 teams to 28 and the number of wild cards reduced from four teams to two.

"If we give one of those (wild cards) to the Jensens, that makes it tougher for some of the singles guys to play (doubles)," tournament spokesman Phil Smith said.

Woodforde, 37, retired in 2000 after teaming with Todd Woodbridge to win a record 61 doubles titles. They won here four times, making them the winningest team in the Open Era in Cincinnati.

Woodforde and Jensen will join a cast of former champions in the mixed-doubles Seniors field, including Hana Mandlikova, Gigi Fernandez, Kathy Rinaldi, Brenda Schultz-McCarthy, Tom Gullikson, Mansour Bahrami, Owen Davidson and Gene Mayer. Two additional women will be named to round out the six-man, six-woman field.

The seniors tournament is Aug. 7-9. The main draw qualifier is Aug. 9-10, and the main draw is Aug. 11-17. For tickets, call 513-651-0303.

---

Michael Perry contributed to this report.