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It goes without saying that getting into the Wimbledon Championships is not the easiest thing in the world to do. In fact, unless you are ranked inside the top 100, you are facing a tough qualifying draw if you are to make it into the third Grand Slam of the year. And when I say tough, the fact that just 16 players can qualify from an initial draw of 128 tells you all you need to know. This leads me to the purpose of sharing this post with you today.
You are no doubt aware that if you don’t get straight into the Wimbledon main draw, there is always the chance of receiving one of several Wimbledon wildcards. Typically, 8 wildcards are issued for the men’s singles, and 8 wildcards are issued for the women’s singles. However, do you know exactly what goes on behind the scenes concerning how these wildcards are allocated?
Sure, you may have an idea of how this process is done, but not many will know all of the possible avenues when it comes to Wimbledon wildcards. Yet since you are here, all of that is about to change. So let me now get started and highlight the different options that are out there for current competitors.
Three Intriguing Elements of Wimbledon Wildcards and How They Are Given
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As referenced above, a total of 16 wildcards are available between the men’s and women’s singles draws at Wimbledon. Coinciding with these wildcards, it is possible for some players to gain entry into the main draw due to a protected ranking. Then again, not many people will want to depend on this as a protected ranking generally means that an individual has been away from the tour for one reason or another.
So coming back to the Wimbledon wildcards, unless a player gains direct entry or is selected via a protected ranking, this is the only way to bypass the Wimbledon qualifying rounds. With that said, I figured it’s time that I now gave you the scoop on the relatively secretive world of Wimbledon wildcards.
Wildcards Are Issued for Wimbledon Qualifying
Before I get into the wildcards in relation to the Wimbledon main draw, this is something I wanted to bring to your attention. As you can see, there is in fact a Wimbledon wildcard allocation process when it comes to the qualifying draw. This can be absolutely huge for the players that receive one – for multiple reasons. After all, you still need to be ranked inside the top 230 (more or less) to get into the qualifiers for Wimbledon.
So if you are not ranked that high, you won’t get in without a protected/special ranking, or without receiving a wildcard. However, the wildcards that are given for qualifying can go to players that are ranked far below the stated cut-off point. For example, three wildcards were issued for the Wimbledon 2023 qualifiers to players who are not even professionally ranked. And other wildcards were given to players ranked well outside of the top 500!
Wildcards Are Given at the Discretion of the Wimbledon Committee
Let’s now get back to the discussion of Wimbledon wildcards in relation to the main draw. Now, in the traditional sense, it is the duty of the Wimbledon committee as to who receives wildcards for this event. With that said, there are no specific criteria that the committee follows each year when selecting the wildcards. This is what makes the process somewhat secretive, although there are a couple of elements, based on wildcards from previous years, that we can be relatively sure of.
Firstly, wildcards are often handed out to British players in order to stimulate home interest. Other Grand Slams also do this concerning wildcard allocations. Secondly, wildcards can be distributed due to past performances at Wimbledon, even if an individual’s ranking is now far lower than what’s required to gain entry into the event.
Wildcards Can Be Earned Through Recent Performances
The third and final method of obtaining a wildcard is probably the most misunderstood of them all. For example, did you know that a player can receive a wildcard on merit by winning one of the build-up tournaments? That’s right, this really can be done. Take a Challenger event known as the Ilkley trophy as a key example. Traditionally, the winner of this Challenger event receives a wildcard into the Wimbledon main draw, despite the fact that it’s just a Challenger event.
Another example is the Nottingham Open. You might recall that Katie Boulter won the event in 2023. And she was issued a Wimbledon wildcard immediately after her title run. So as you can see, the build-up tournaments are more than just an opportunity for some grass court competition!
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