Past success over British picks as Raducanu joined by Osaka, Wozniacki and Kerber in Wimbledon wildcard allocation
WTA
The initial wildcards have been confirmed for the 2024 Wimbledon Championships which will take place between Monday 1 July - Sunday 14 July at the historic lawns of SW19 and in comparison to Roland Garros, it is past success over country of birth picked for many of the initial choices.
Emma Raducanu as expected leads the wildcards for the women's draw. She likely had to play qualifying and alongside Heather Watson, Lily Miyazaki and Francesca Jones lead the British contingent who have received wildcards. The rest are all former World No.1's and Grand Slam champions who would've needed to play qualifying.
Naomi Osaka and Angelique Kerber up to this point have relied mainly on protected rankings to play tournaments but as their returns continue and the need for one for the Olympic Games, the former in particular was already entered into qualifying. Kerber though as a popular former champion was always likely to get a wildcard on her return to the tournament.
Wozniacki controversially given wildcard
Both were in action in Berlin losing in the opening round. While Raducanu who makes her return for the first time in two years reached the semi-finals at Nottingham last week in an enthralling week for the Brit.
Caroline Wozniacki is perhaps the controversial choice. A fourth round at best previously at Wimbledon and comments which she had to explain in the past day `made by her father Piotr about feeling disrespected about being snubbed for a Roland Garros wildcard.
Caroline Wozniacki (pictured) will be a controversial choice due to a lack of prior Wimbledon success and recent comments about wildcards from her father Piotr.
Wozniacki was entered into qualifying for Wimbledon which was confirmed at the time by her father as a needs must strategy and that they had still attempted to get a wildcard which they have now received.
But the Dane throughout her return unlike Osaka and Kerber has shown a real lack of attempt to play smaller tournaments on the tour without a wildcard and lost in the opening round of Birmingham this week. She has made some ranking gains, but has not done enough to get into tournaments by right nearly a year into her return.
“Sure we could [enter qualifiers], because we have the ranking that allows it. We could have signed up in advance for the qualifiers. But Caroline said that she didn’t work hard all her life and didn’t achieve so much to start like a junior now,” said Piotr Wozniacki to Poland’s Gazeta.
“At some point in life, however, there should be respect in a sport where a person has meant something. There is no information from the WTA or the ITF, the organiser of Grand Slam tournaments. Caroline told me that it was difficult – if she didn’t get a wildcard to Roland Garros – at most she wouldn’t play in it.
“She preferred to wait to see how they would respond to her application rather than apply for a qualifier. I support her. And I will tell you that Caroline will definitely not play next year either. We have already decided that. Because there is no point in going into something like this. They don’t take us seriously, so it’s a waste of our efforts.”
Simona Halep was told by Wimbledon that they would follow the same procedure than any other player to decide on her wildcard fate. But unsurprisingly, she has not received one.
The Men's is a different story with Liam Broady leading the way with a contingent of six other British players. Andy Murray, Cameron Norrie, Dan Evans and Jack Draper lead the main British charge in SW19. The Challenger winner the week prior to Wimbledon also often gets a wildcard and that will likely continue this time.
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