Emma Raducanu granted Wimbledon wildcard but Simona Halep and Dominic Thiem ignored
Wimbledon announced 14 wildcards this morning.
Grand Slam champions Emma Raducanu, Naomi Osaka and Caroline Wozniacki have all been handed Wimbledon wildcards. But the 2019 winner Simona Halep has not been invited following her drugs ban. The All England Club today announced 14 wildcards, with all seven on the men’s side going to British players. It means Dominic Thiem has not been invited to play in his final season. Raducanu has climbed back up to world No.165 after reaching the semi-finals of the Rothesay Open in Nottingham at the weekend. She will accept a wildcard to save a tournament she could have entered using her protective ranking.
Four-time Major winner Osaka will return to Wimbledon for the first time since 2019 after Covid, injuries and becoming a mother. The Japanese No.1 had a match point against world No.1 Iga Swiatek at the French Open. Wozniacki played her first match on grass since Wimbledon in 2019 at the Rothesay Classic in Birmingham this week. The Dane retired in January 2020 and had two children before returning to tennis in June last year. Double Grand Slam winner Halep was banned for four years from the WTA Tour in October 2022 but had the suspension reduced on appeal to nine months in March.
The former world No.1 was given a wildcard to the Miami Open but the world No.1130 lost in the first round – and retired with a knee injury in her only other match this season at a WTA 125 event in Paris last month. Back in 2017, the French Open refused to give Maria Sharapova a wildcard following her return from a 15-month doping ban. The Russian decided against asking for a Wimbledon wildcard and entered qualifying before a thigh injury ruled her out of the tournament. Halep’s former publicist Katie Spellman reports that she did not request a wildcard from Wimbledon because her knee is not ready to compete.
There is record prize money of £50m at Wimbledon this year – with first-round losers guaranteed to bank £60,000. The male wildcards are Liam Broady, Jan Choinski, Jacob Fearnley, Arthur Fery, Billy Harris, Paul Jubb and Henry Searle. The other female wildcards are Fran Jones, Angelique Kerber, Yuriko Lily Miyazaki and Heather Watson.
