Wimbledon wildcards

No great surprises here.

http://www.wimbledon.com/en_GB/news/articles/2015-06-17/wild_cards_announcement_for_the_championships_2015.html


Who else do you think deserves or might get one?

There is talk of Laura Robson making a long-awaited comeback at Eastbourne next week.

If she were then deemed fit to play Wimbledon, I imagine she will almost certainly be granted a WC.

May this be the last one Mahut gets!

Mahut is no 60 in the world... how low was he pre RG?

In any case lets indeed hope Mahut gets in on his own terms from now on

No idea.

The organisers made a big thing about making Brits earn it, I am fine with that. However, please don't go out and hand them out based on nostalgia.

Does Bedene get in on ranking alone? Or is he in the line for a WC

Bedene is comfortably inside the top 100 isn't he?

75-85 in the world I think.

Surprised Edmund needed one given his RG heroics.

Is Brydan Klein another Bedene??

legendkillarV2 wrote:However, please don't go out and hand them out based on nostalgia.

Mahut has just won a grass ATP 250 and is now #60 in the rankings. That is good enough to give him a wild card - nostalgia or not.

summerblues wrote:

legendkillarV2 wrote:However, please don't go out and hand them out based on nostalgia.

Mahut has just won a grass ATP 250 and is now #60 in the rankings.  That is good enough to give him a wild card - nostalgia or not.

If he needs one despite being ranked 60, then the entry requirements need looking at.

I still stand by comment title or not.

He got his ranking points that got him to 60 after the cut-off.

Haven't seen you around for a good while dj ....!!

djlovesyou wrote:He got his ranking points that got him to 60 after the cut-off.

Thats what I thought, that the RG points that must have got him there were too late. Thats what wildcards are for I suppose, but maybe they shouldnt seed Wimbledon until after the round of grass tournies are done.

Haha, yeah, always lurking, not so much posting.

I think the actual seedings are made from the rankings at the start of the tournament but the cut-off for the main draw is 6 weeks before. I think it's the same for all the slams, but not certain.

I'm guessing they need to have at least a few weeks for logistical reasons.

Yes – 6 weeks for entry to Slams, though the seedings are on up-to-date rankings. I imagine the changes in rankings in the period in between affect Wimbledon more than the other Slams because Roland Garros falls during that time so there are often big ranking changes.
I think Jiri Vesely had a similar situation last year as he was ranked in the 60s by the start of Wimbledon, but needed a wild card to get in.

legendkillarV2 wrote:No idea.

The organisers made a big thing about making Brits earn it, I am fine with that. However, please don't go out and hand them out based on nostalgia.

I tend to agree wrt nostalgia.

Moving away from Brits ......I suppose because he's a former Champion, and playing Wimbledon for the very last time, the WC given to Lleyton Hewitt (ranked somewhere in the 100's these days with just one match win all season) might seem perfectly justified - certainly to his fans.

On the other hand, his best run in all past appearances - ie other than the 2002 title of course - has, I believe, been a solitary SF, and even that was a decade ago. So perhaps it could be seen as a case of Wimbledon nostalgia. Understandable nostalgia ? ...... or a waste of a WC ?.....

lags72 wrote:

legendkillarV2 wrote:No idea.

The organisers made a big thing about making Brits earn it, I am fine with that. However, please don't go out and hand them out based on nostalgia.

I tend to agree wrt nostalgia.

Moving away from Brits ......I suppose because he's a former Champion, and playing Wimbledon for the very last time, the WC given to Lleyton Hewitt (ranked somewhere in the 100's these days with just one match win all season) might seem perfectly justified - certainly to his fans.

On the other hand, his best run in all past appearances - ie other than the 2002 title of course - has, I believe, been a solitary SF, and even that was a decade ago. So perhaps it could be seen as a case of Wimbledon nostalgia. Understandable nostalgia ? ...... or a waste of a WC ?.....

On this occasion I do see some logic. Final farewell for a former champion, though he had previous ones and also his last QF in a Slam was back in 2009. Is anyone thinking Hewitt can get beyond round 1?

For me WC's should predominantly for upcoming youngsters. Those in around say the top 250. I just think organisers owe it to the sport to try and create new stars for the future. Look past nationalist pride and nostalgia and look towards the future.

He had match points against Anderson (who then took out Stan) at Queens, so I think he could win a round or two with a favourable draw. I think giving a farewell to a former champ is fair enough.

I would love to see a CAMONNNNNesque performance, but I feel the fight has gone out of the old dog

Edmund, Ward and Mahut were obvious WC choices. Broady hasn't perhaps made as much progress as hoped in the last few months but is still just about young enough to merit inclusion.

Personally, I have no problem with Hewitt being given one last entry - OK, he is a shadow of the player he used to be, but he is a past champion and a player that attracts fans (even if in some cases in a pantomime villain type way). Be good if he could get a farewell match on a show court (say Murray in R2...)

Sensible looking set of wild cards.

Simply because I am Irish, I wish they would give an Irish player a wild card for once. I think Conor Niland deserved one over the years when he played having nearly got into the top 100 at one stage and qualified for Aus Open and US open in his career.

I would love to see James McGee get one but I know it wont happen. With the exception of Andy Murray, the top ranked Irish player over the past 10 -15 years has always been ranked as high if not higher than all the other British players. Niland was consistently around 119 - 130 and never got a look in which is a shame as Ireland is a close neighbour.

McGee has had some very good match wins this year and is consistently reaching semis and finals of challenger events. I think he beat a guy ranked around 80 this week in the quarter finals, 3rd seed.

Anyway, just a little rant as I know the goal of tennis is to spread the game to other countries and Ireland never gets anything from tennis. Hard to grow the game with so little being offered here. I would love to see Ireland host an ATP tournament too, plenty of great tennis clubs and facilities. We even have our own O2 indoor venue, which is actually a nicer set up and similar capacity to the one in London, heck gives us the world tour finals!!! you have wimbledon

Irish people are mad about sport and I guarantee the matches would be a sell out if the top guys were in town. Just a pipe dream I suppose !

I should also add that Dublin Airport has direct flights from all the main hubs across Europe, USA, Canada etc which would make it really accessible for all the players and helps that it is only 1 hour from London and 2 hours from Paris.

ATP, if you are reading..............Dublin is the place to be !!!

slashermcguirk wrote:Simply because I am Irish, I wish they would give an Irish player a wild card for once. I think Conor Niland deserved one over the years when he played having nearly got into the top 100 at one stage and qualified for Aus Open and US open in his career.

I would love to see James McGee get one but I know it wont happen. With the exception of Andy Murray, the top ranked Irish player over the past 10 -15 years has always been ranked as high if not higher than all the other British players. Niland was consistently around 119 - 130 and never got a look in which is a shame as Ireland is a close neighbour.

McGee has had some very good match wins this year and is consistently reaching semis and finals of challenger events. I think he beat a guy ranked around 80 this week in the quarter finals, 3rd seed.

Anyway, just a little rant as I know the goal of tennis is to spread the game to other countries and Ireland never gets anything from tennis. Hard to grow the game with so little being offered here. I would love to see Ireland host an ATP tournament too, plenty of great tennis clubs and facilities. We even have our own O2 indoor venue, which is actually a nicer set up and similar capacity to the one in London, heck gives us the world tour finals!!! you have wimbledon

Irish people are mad about sport and I guarantee the matches would be a sell out if the top guys were in town. Just a pipe dream I suppose !

I remember nirland. I think he got a wc into the U.S. open once. The fact the Irish don't play David cup for gb, hurts their wc chances I think.  Though does Ireland not even have a challenger? They could sneak a 250 in there the week before wimby maybe

No offence but Conor Niland peaked at 129 after one good season. Besides that, his best year end finish was 277.

Matt Ebden got his for winning the Surbiton Challenger last week. I wonder if they're going to give the last one to the winner of Ilkley tomorrow. It's the same finalists! Ebden and Denis Kudla. Denis will be kicking himself for last week, as he served for the title. So he has another chance at a title, and hopefully also of a Wimbledon wildcard. But if Ebden wins again... well, he won't need another one.

I like Kudla on grass. He's come through qualifying for Wimbledon the last two years, and reached the 2nd round both times.

Denis Kudla won the Ilkley Challenger and has been awarded the last singles wildcard.

Robson might not get a wc now. She crashed out of Eastborne quick time, no surprise really. She needs lots more time.

She does get a wc though. Hope she can perform better than Eastbourne

Yeah she got the wc (not a good word), if she loses first round, she is always welcome to roll on the grass with me at Regents Park.

Dan Evans lost in the final round of qualifying. Could they still give him a wildcard?

No they're all allocated. Evan's only chance is to be a lucky loser

temporary21 wrote:No they're all allocated. Evan's only chance is to be a lucky loser

Unfortunately he has zero chance of that either, because if a LL spot comes up (as is pretty likely) oniy the top 4 ranked players who lost in final qualifying go in the draw to get the place.

Fair enough. He might get a mixed doubles wildcard if he applies I guess

Looking at the Wimbledon website earlier it said they had one wildcard left to allocate.

Although I also heard that he was given a warning for not trying hard enough in the set he lost 6-0 in the second round of qualifying, so perhaps he won't be first choice.

Kudla got the last for after his win at Ilkley.