I'm not too sure on this so I'm sorry if I'm wrong but I think they might give Eugenie Bouchard a WCM. Due to the fact Ashleigh Barty was given a wildcard into the main draw last year for presumably winning the junior championships the year before in 2011.

Junior slam winners are guaranteed a QWC if they require and want one, though Wimbledon often upgrades that to a MDWC for the girls' winner. Unusually this year, both last year's finalists are already in the WTA top 100.

Spotting a few recent posts about Wimbledon wildcards here and elsewhere in the Forum I thought I would offer some historical perspective. I started following British tennis in the mid 1990s and noticed that some players were frustrated that they didn't know what they had to do to earn a Wimbledon main draw wildcard. In those days there appeared to be no rules or clear guidelines other than that various things such as form and ranking would be taken into account. As an aside it was actually possible then for a British park or club player to win a WC for qualifying, as pre-qualifying featured large draws (128 for men and 64 for women if I remember correctly) and members of the public could sign up, pay a fee and take part providing there were spare places in the draw (there usually were). I have no idea whether any such player ever made it through to qualifying, but the route was closed off a decade or so ago.

I corresponded a few years later with Patrice Hagelauer, then LTA Performance Director,  about possible target or results based systems for wildcard allocation. He seemed interested (though he may have just been polite) but then he resigned and was replaced by David Felgate in 2003, who quickly put in place his own system, starting with a separate play-off for main draw WCs in 2003. Since then a target based system has been in place, though there has been variation both in the actual main target rankings and the nature of exemptions or weaker/stronger targets (generally featuring young players, those coming back from injury and those who have had multiple wildcards).

I found on the web the announcement of the revamped system for 2004 as follows:

The Lawn Tennis Association have announced that the allocation process for wildcard entry into the 2004 Wimbledon Championships will be tightened in a review of the play-off system introduced in 2003.

In agreement with the All England Club the wildcard playoffs and pre-qualifying will be amalgamated into one event to be played from Wednesday to Friday during the first week of June.

Additionally, only men in the worlds top 300 and women in the top 250 will be eligible for nomination for a main draw wildcard, unless under the age of 20 for men and 19 for women.

The mens and womens events will be played out over three days with the winners guaranteed a main draw wildcard.

It has also been announced that no player will receive any more than three direct wild cards, unless ranked in the worlds top 150, or returning from serious injury in the past year.

The LTA Performance Director David Felgate said:

"We are determined to improve the standards of performance tennis in this country further and these changes to the wildcard system are designed to ensure that the bar continues to be raised. Wimbledon wildcards are not a right, they have to be earned, and those players who step out onto the Wimbledon courts next summer will know that they deserve to be playing in a Grand Slam.

Players who receive a wildcard direct will be notified after the wildcard meeting to be held on 7 June 2004. All other British players will be eligible to play in the play offs to win a wildcard for Main Draw or Qualifying.

Other wildcards will be allocated by the All England Club for Main Draw and Qualifying thereafter.

A couple of points to note from the above:

a) This was the first time that stricter criteria were put in place for those with multiple previous wildcards partly in response to persistent media criticism of particular players being given one most years, never making the top 100 and not winning any Wimbledon matches. Although this has been removed from publicly specified criteria in recent years, it may explain the anomaly when Boggo made the stated target in 2010 but wasn't awarded a wildcard.

b) Only the play-off winners were actually guaranteed a wildcard the rest are merely nominated for one as usual the final decision resting with Wimbledon. On the men's side the lack of eligible nominees causes a problem for Wimbledon, since under the terms of the latest agreements they have to give a total of 10 main draw and qualifying draw WCs to Brits plus one to the previous year's junior champion (if relevant) . That means at least 2 main draw WCs usually have to go to Brits and may well be a factor in the anomalies when Brits have been awarded WCs when just outside the stated criteria (Jamie Baker / Dan Cox)

DavidC wrote:

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a) This was the first time that stricter criteria were put in place for those with multiple previous wildcards partly in response to persistent media criticism of particular players being given one most years, never making the top 100 and not winning any Wimbledon matches. Although this has been removed from publicly specified criteria in recent years, it may explain the anomaly when Boggo made the stated target in 2010 but wasn't awarded a wildcard.

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The reason given for that one was because Boggo made himself unavailable for selection for Davis Cup that year, so Leon Smith said because of that he wasn't going to get any wild cards for that year.

I am afraid that I don't think that Sam and Lisa are guaranteed Wimbledon MDWCs.

Rightly or wrongly, I feel that the LTA's WR 250 mark for MDWC recommendations and the fact that Jo, Anne, Tara and Bally will already no doubt be getting MDWCs will be very significant.

Sam is now looking very good for being top 250 prior to Wimbledon ( aided by a strategically well selected SA 50K tournament ) but Lisa still has 45 points to defend and could drop to about WR 280, so to me is likely to have to get wins to get her at the very least verging on the top 250.

Probably worth saying that arguably having such a one weaker tournament being advantageous does pose some questions re having such as a WR 250 mark ( although I do support it at least as a guideline ) and that it would be a pity if Lisa misses out, particularly with her proven past abilities on grass.

I do think Jade is looking good for a Wimbledon QWC with the 8 British pre play-off WCs ( MD + Q ) looking to me like Jo, Anne, Tara, Bally, Sam, Lisa, Naomi and Jade. Katy Dunne might come into the mix for a QWC, particularly if she can put in a few more encouraging performances.

indiana wrote:

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At this stage, the men's 8 WCs ( MD + Q ) should logically be James, Boggo, Jamie, Josh G, Evo, Ed, Kyle and Oli.

Not sure how much logic will apply though, particularly with regards to Boggo.

I think James and Kyle will get MD WCs with Evo and Oli being the only other possibles, assuming noone else shoots into the top 250.

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 I think that you got that about right indiana.  Much as they wont want 7 or 8 Brits having wild cards I don't think they'll want just the one (James) either.  My guess is Kyle and Evo would be added in the main draw, Oli being qualies unless something dramatic happens in next week or two!

indiana wrote:

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I am afraid that I don't think that Sam and Lisa are guaranteed Wimbledon MDWCs.

Rightly or wrongly, I feel that the LTA's WR 250 mark for MDWC recommendations and the fact that Jo, Anne, Tara and Bally will already no doubt be getting MDWCs will be very significant.

Sam is now looking very good for being top 250 prior to Wimbledon ( aided by a strategically well selected SA 50K tournament ) but Lisa still has 45 points to defend and could drop to about WR 280, so to me is likely to have to get wins to get her at the very least verging on the top 250.

Probably worth saying that arguably having such a one weaker tournament being advantageous does pose some questions re having such as a WR 250 mark ( although I do support it at least as a guideline ) and that it would be a pity if Lisa misses out, particularly with her proven past abilities on grass.

I do think Jade is looking good for a Wimbledon QWC with the 8 British pre play-off WCs ( MD + Q ) looking to me like Jo, Anne, Tara, Bally, Sam, Lisa, Naomi and Jade. Katy Dunne might come into the mix for a QWC, particularly if she can put in a few more encouraging performances.

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 I think Lisa merits it slightly more than Sam, being the younger of the two and better grass court pedigree. Would like to see Dunne get a WC too actually. 

RBBOT wrote:

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Katy Dunne might come into the mix for a QWC, particularly if she can put in a few more encouraging performances
In order to put in any encouraging performances, it would require her to spend some of that Team Aegon funding and play a women's tournament outside the UK - something she has never done. However, in general, May/June isn't a good time teenagers to play a lot as often they are busy with exams.

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 Next week Katy plays in a 10K in Sweden.