UK: 18+ USA: 21+ | Begambleaware.org | T&Cs apply | Play Responsibly
As one of the top tournaments of the year, many would say those who earned Wimbledon 2024 wildcards received the golden ticket! To be honest, with the Wimbledon prize money available for simply reaching the main draw, this is quite literally true. And like every year, there were many Wimbledon wildcards issued for the 2024 championships.
For the singles events, 16 wildcards were granted at the tournament organisers’ discretion. Amazingly, all 8x wildcards in the men’s singles went to British players, while 4x wildcards went to British players in the women’s singles. This means that 75% of all Wimbledon 2024 wildcards were given to British natives – quite a figure!
However, all of the British players who received these wildcards have since lost except for one – Emma Raducanu. At the time of writing, she’s still going strong, although it will only get tougher from here. As for the scope of the wildcards from a broader perspective, I’d like to take you through all of the details now.
Wimbledon 2024 wildcards – a run-through of listed players
Contents
As mentioned above, there was a grand total of 16 Wimbledon wildcards available for this year’s tournament (singles events). This is consistent with the number of wildcards available in previous years. However, it’s rare for all of the wildcards for a Grand Slam event to be given to those from the host nation, as witnessed with the men’s singles this year.
Nevertheless, this is within the rules of the ATP and WTA Tours, and wildcards are regularly used to help local talent with a main draw entry. Additionally, while all eight wildcards went to British players for the men’s singles, it was a 50/50 split between British players and foreign players for the women’s singles. On that note, let me give you the exact list of Wimbledon 2024 wildcards for each event:
Men’s singles – Wimbledon 2024 wildcards
For the men’s singles event, each individual who received a wildcard was ranked outside of the top 100 in the world at the time of entry.
This means that without a Wimbledon wildcard, they would have been in the qualifying event. But as it happens, the following eight players all bypassed the qualifiers and received a wildcard into the main draw of Wimbledon 2024:
- Liam Broady
- Charles Broom
- Jan Choinski
- Jacob Fearnley
- Arthur Fery
- Billy Harris
- Paul Jubb
- Henry Searle
From these 8x players, just one of them made it into the second round – Jacob Fearnley. Unfortunately, he then faced Djokovic, whom he lost to in four sets.
Women’s singles – Wimbledon 2024 wildcards
In a mirror image of the men’s singles event, the British players at Wimbledon who received a wildcard for this event were all ranked outside the top 100 prior to Wimbledon. However, the difference here is that the wildcards were shared equally between British and international players. Here is the full list for reference:
- Francesca Jones (GBR)
- Angelique Kerber
- Lily Miyazaki (GBR)
- Naomi Osaka
- Emma Raducanu (GBR)
- Ajla Tomljanović
- Heather Watson (GBR)
- Caroline Wozniacki
The British women fared far better than the men this year as far as wildcards are concerned. Two of the four British wildcards made it beyond the first round. And for the wildcards as a whole, two of them are still going strong in the women’s singles draw – Emma Raducanu and Caroline Wozniacki.
Wimbledon 2024 wildcards – those who are left in the tournament
I’ve emphasized the positive element of Wimbledon wildcards earlier. To quickly recap, receiving a wildcard allows a player to bypass the qualifying event and gets them straight into the main draw. Without receiving a wildcard, this would simply be impossible. However, while there are clear positives to receiving a wildcard, it’s not all sunshine and rainbows.
In fact, because wildcard players tend to be inserted into the draw at random, they can often receive rather challenging draws. For example, Raducanu was due to play a top seed in the first round before her opponent withdrew and was replaced by a Lucky Loser. Additionally, while Jacob Fearnley was the only wildcard to make it through round one in the men’s singles, he then faced Novak Djokovic – a lousy draw indeed!
Therefore, when it comes to Wimbledon 2024 wildcards, it’s fair to say you take the rough with the smooth. But while that’s part of what wildcards are all about, if you can make the most of them, good things can happen. This brings me to the two remaining wildcard players left in the draw for Wimbledon 2024:
Emma Raducanu
Following her unbelievable run to the US Open title in 2021, Raducanu reached a career-high ranking of number 10 in the world in 2022. This was obviously an incredible achievement, yet I’m sure she would love to replicate this success at her home event! As things stand, Raducanu is one of two Wimbledon wildcards left in the women’s singles. And she did reach the fourth round back in 2021, so she knows a thing or two about scoring big results at SW19.
That said, she’s due to face the 9th seed, Maria Sakkari, in round three later this week, which will be a very tough match.
Caroline Wozniacki
The first of the two Wimbledon wildcards who is still going is a former Grand Slam champion, as mentioned above. Yet, for the second player, she is both a former world number one and Grand Slam champion! Therefore, these two Wimbledon 2024 wildcards both have a fairly impressive CV, and other players in the draw will be taking note.
Wozniacki has already taken out the 30th seed to reach round three, too. But she now faces an even tougher task than Raducanu, as she’s set to face the 4th seed and former champion, Elena Rybakina.
FAQs – Wimbledon 2024 wildcards
When do Wimbledon wildcards get issued?
Typically, Wimbledon wildcards are announced a week or two ahead of the main tournament.
Has a Wimbledon wildcard ever won the tournament?
Yes! Goran Ivanisevic did exactly that when he won Wimbledon in 2001. At the time, he was ranked 125 in the world.
What chance do the remaining Wimbledon 2024 wildcards have to win the tournament?
I would say their chances are slim. But in Grand Slam tennis, anything can happen!
Subscribe to Punditfeed on Google News for all the latest updates from the world of sports!
