Top five players snubbed for wildcard entry at Wimbledon 2024

Majority of wildcards at Wimbledon 2024 were given to British players.

The All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club released the list of wildcards for the 2024 edition of the grass-court major — Wimbledon 2024. The list shared accounts for all 16 available wildcards in the men’s and women’s singles main draw. All eight wildcards on the men’s side have benefited British players, and five of eight available wildcards have gone to British women. Three wildcard spots on the men’s qualifying singles list are yet to be filled.  

Naturally, this has stoked some controversy about deserving players being left out and local players bagging a large part of the wildcards on offer. Notable names worthy of an opportunity to turn up at SW19 in 2024 but left out include former champions and players in their farewell year.

Players snubbed from Wimbledon 2024 wildcard entry

Dominic Thiem

Dominic Thiem will not turn up to play at Wimbledon. He has been overlooked for a second consecutive major. The Austrian was ignored by the organisers of Roland Garros in May, where he was a two-time finalist in 2018 and 2019. Thiem made it as far as the round of 16 in 2017, his best performance at SW19. 

ALSO READ: Top five achievements of Dominic Thiem’s career

The Austrian is heading into early retirement at the end of the season, aged just 30, in a career derailed by a persistent wrist injury over the last few years. Thiem will be calling time on his career at the Erste Bank Open, to be played in October in his home country.

Thiem has won a sole Grand Slam win — the 2020 US Open among his 17 ATP Tour titles. He has also won the ATP Masters 1000 Indian Wells in 2019, defeating Roger Federer in straight sets that year.

Simona Halep

Simona Halep is a surprising omission as she was the 2019 Wimbledon champion. Halep is also a two-time semifinalist in London (2014, 2022). The former world No. #1 and two-time Grand Slam winner was given a wildcard to the Miami Open but hasn’t played since losing in the first round at the WTA 1000 event.

The only other tournament Halep has played this year was the Trophée Clarins in Paris, a week before the French Open. Incidentally, like Thiem, the 2018 French Open winner, too, was ignored for a wildcard. 

The Romanian is on the comeback trail after the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) cleared the way for her return in March. Her four-year suspension was reduced to nine months on appeal.

Milos Raonic

While Milos Raonic may not have won Wimbledon, he reached the quarterfinals or better on four occasions. In 2014, Raonic made the semifinals, followed by three back-to-back appearances, finals in 2016, and the quarterfinals in 2017 and 2018.

In last week’s Queen’s Club Championships, the 33-year-old Canadian showed he still is a force to be reckoned with. The towering 6’5” Canadian blew away local player Cameron Norrie with a record 47 aces, the most in a three-set match, and at 71 winners, double that of his British rival. The one-time World No. 3 is 28-10 on the grass courts of Wimbledon.

ALSO READ: Top five early predictions for 2024 Wimbledon ft. Casper Ruud, Iga Swiatek, Novak Djokovic and more

In ATP Masters events, he strung together four championship round appearances and reached the round of four eight times.

Raonic spent two years away from the sport to recover from injuries to his toe and Achilles heel. Medical issues continued to dog him, with the Canadian having to withdraw from the opening round at the 2024 Australian Open.

Richard Gasquet

Veteran Frenchman and two-time Wimbledon semifinalist Richard Gasquet (2007, 2015) finds himself without a wildcard. The 38-year-old Frenchman is in 31-17 in the main draw at SW19 and has to make his way through qualifying.  Gasquet has a chance to make his 18th main draw appearance at Wimbledon. 

Gasquet, who reached a career-high ranking of World No. #7, has played over 1000 matches on tour. Giving him company are Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Fernando Verdasco and Andy Murray, as the only other active players to have crossed that milestone.

Gasquet will be taking part in the qualifiers for a place in the Wimbledon 2024 main draw.

Diego Schwartzman

Diego Schwartzman is the other player on this list looking to hang up his racquet shortly. Should things go according to plan, the 31-year-old Schwartzman will look to retire next February on home soil in Argentina. Schwartzman can count two third-round appearances at Wimbledon as his best at the grass-court major.  His best effort in Grand Slams came at Roland Garros, where he reached the semifinals in 2020 and the quarterfinals twice (2018, 2021).

At the already underway Wimbledon qualifying, Britain’s Jay Clarke dashed Diego Schwartzman’s hopes of making it to the main draw.

The Argentine, a one-time World No. #8 in the ATP Rankings, has victories to his name against players such as Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray and Dominic Thiem.

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