From Quarter-Finals to playing Challenger: Cristian Garin denied wildcard a year on from landmark Wimbledon run

Cristian Garin won’t participate in the 2023 Wimbledon after being denied a Wild Card by the organization.

The Chilean has had two inconsistent years in terms of his results due to constant injuries that have prevented him from finding regularity. Although this year it seemed like he had found his rhythm with some good results, such as reaching the round of 16 at Indian Wells from the qualifying rounds, the third round at the Miami Open, and the quarterfinals at the Houston, Munich, and Madrid Opens.

The former world No. 17 has dropped in the rankings to outside the top 100 and has not appeared in a final since the Rome Open, where he had to retire during the third-round match against Laslo Djere. In the Wimbledon cut-off, Garin was listed as the 7th alternate and decided to wait until the last minute to see if any withdrawals would help him get into the main draw.

However, he ended up being the second alternate until the qualifying rounds started. Garin was not willing to play the qualifiers as he still needed a few days to recover to compete in his favorite tournament, as he has mentioned.

In 2022, he was one of the surprises, benefiting from Matteo Berrettini's last-minute withdrawal, with whom he had been drawn in the first round and was defending the 2021 final. With this, Garin advanced by defeating Elias Ymer, Hugo Grenier, Jensen Brooksby (29th seed), and Alex de Minaur (19th seed). In the match against the Australian, he overcame a two-set deficit and secured an incredible victory in the fifth-set tie-break (2-6, 5-7, 7-6(3), 6-4, 7-6(6)). He lost in the semifinals to Nick Kyrgios in three sets.

Garin had hoped to receive a Wild Card considering his great performance in 2022, but ultimately the organization disregarded his presence. The current world No. 124 will not be able to participate in Wimbledon, unlike David Goffin (world No. 123), who was also a quarterfinalist last year and did receive a Wild Card.