Caroline Wozniakci and Simona Halep during a match
Tennis fans are up in arms after several big-name players were ignored by Roland Garros organisers in terms of wildcards.
The Federation Francaise de Tennis (FFT) announced their 16 wildcard main draw entries – eight on the men’s side and eight on the women’s side – on Tuesday.
But the names of 2020 US Open winner and two-time Roland Garros runner-up Dominic Thiem, former world No 1s Simona Halep and Caroline Wozniacki, and 2021 US Open winner Emma Raducanu were missing.
As expected, French players dominated the list as Terence Atmane, Richard Gasquet, Pierre-Hugues Herbert, Harold Mayot, Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard and Alexandre Muller were the recipients for the ATP draw.
On the WTA side, Aliza Cornet, Fiona Ferro, Elsa Jacquemot, Kristina Mladenovic, Chloe Paquet and Jessika Ponchet will feature on the main draw.
The FFT also has a reciprocal system with Tennis Australia and the United States Tennis Association and they also handed wildcards to Australians Ajla Tomljanovic and Adam Walton, and American pair Sachia Vickery and Nicolas Moreno de Alboran.
That meant there were no spots for several star players, who had failed to gain automatic entry as they have slipped down the rankings.
Thiem, who finished runner-up at Roland Garros in 2018 and 2019, was one of the most contentious ones as he has announced he will retire at the end of the 2024 season.
The 2020 US Open winner, a former world No 3, is currently at No 117 in the ATP Rankings.
“Did you forget the grand slam champion, two time RG finalist and former world number three that is retiring at the end of this year? ,” one person asked on X.
Another added: “Actually a disgrace not to give Thiem one ”
Two-time Grand Slam winner Halep is a former champion at Roland Garros as she won the 2018 title, but she was also not on the list. The Romanian is currently outside the top 1,000 in the WTA Rankings after she missed nearly two years due to a doping ban that was later reduced.
Wozniacki, who won the 2018 Australian Open, came out of retirement last year and received wildcards for the US Open and Australian Open. She has climbed to No 119, but she will not play in Paris unless she takes part in qualifying.
Raducanu is another player who will have to come through qualifying if she is to take part as she was also not handed a wildcard. The Brit is currently at No 212 in the rankings, but she could use her protected ranking to get into the qualy draw.
“Wow, that seems a missed chance to reward players who have done well in Paris and will attract fans such as Halep, Raducanu, Thiem, Wozniacki. Why not? ” someone asked on X.
There was better news for three Grand Slam champions as Angelique Kerber, Naomi Osaka and Bianca Andreescu all got in thanks to their protected rankings while 14-time Roland Garros champion Rafael Nadal will also feature as he has a protected ranking of nine.
