Daria Saville has been given the final wildcard. She would have been top seed in qualifying (but is not next out the main draw, her ranking has improved since entry deadline).
Daria Saville has been given the final wildcard. She would have been top seed in qualifying (but is not next out the main draw, her ranking has improved since entry deadline).
Yeah, think that will be reserved for Volynets should she win Ilkley (only one of the 4 remaining in contention), but if not, it'll probably just go next in
I guess Errani is still in that Italian W125k event, so if Katie V didn't win, and she won that, she may be an option, but I'm not sure how much weight a non televised overseas fringe WTA event will have.
-- Edited by Ace Ventura on Friday 17th of June 2022 07:12:44 PM
It's no real surprise and it was just 3 years ago when they literally ended up only handing 3 MDWCs out and the other 5 going next in. HUGE contrast to the US Open - obviously a stark different in talent pool, but in 2020 they had a massive list of US players, and each time a home player ended up in the main draw, their MDWC would duly be awarded the American in line.
Covid did obviously play a big part in that, and there might not have been qualifying that year, but still, they're obviously very keen to give as many opportunities as possible to home players.
-- Edited by Ace Ventura on Saturday 18th of June 2022 02:04:04 PM
When we discussed this before, there was the argument not to give too many main draw ones coz the press lambast those who lose get thrashed. Didn't buy off on it but could see the point
I've also heard the argument that they don't want to undermine the value of the junior championships and playoffs - ie if they give them systematically to the u18 finalist or semifinalists in the playoffs, then it belittles those earn it properly
Don't buy off on this either
To me it's just plain spiteful
The lta could give lissey barnett a card - give her 9k or whatever, good grass practice for the doubles - what on earth is the problem? And give one to Emily App too, if you want to keep it easy. A tad lucky but that's life...
I kind of see both sides to this argument here. Yes it would be good to give the leg up to 2 players financially and give them a platform but on the other hand particularly on the womens side there are not that many obvious deserving cases. Alicia (or Lissey to those that know her, which seems to be everyone here), and Emily Appleton dont really meet that criteria. The latter already has the leg up with the easier route WC for doubles and Emily is nowhere near top 500 level at singles never mind being able to match top 300 players. Harsh but true sadly.
I'm afraid I agree with Jaggy here. Surely to warrant a WC you have to have shown evidence that you at least stand a chance of winning a match, but if you look at the level of players these two have lost to, I can't see either of them even getting close.
I'm afraid I agree with Jaggy here. Surely to warrant a WC you have to have shown evidence that you at least stand a chance of winning a match, but if you look at the level of players these two have lost to, I can't see either of them even getting close.
Not really. Ella hasn't shown evidence that she at least stands a chance of winning a match. Quite the opposite. But she's got her place fair and square.
If you look at the profile and rankings of the Roland Garros wildcards, there's a huge range - some older players, some unheard of youngster...... the idea of Wimbledon wildcards is to promote GB tennis (and other good tennis stories).
In the same way that Ruby Cooling's call-up to the playoffs got Lincolnshire tennis federation all excited.....
Giving a wildcard spreads the word, to different parts of the country, creates extra interest, different sponsor interest maybe, it's the ripple effect you're looking for, not just whether they win or not
I think they should have given them out, regardless of whether the recipients are likely to win a match or two. After all, they are giving out the prize money to someone anyway, so why not boost the Brits ? The other slams do it for their players (especially the French as CD says above).