Wildcards for Roland Garros - an extremely French affair
There will be no lack of local color at the French Open 2021, at least in the first rounds. 14 of the 16 wildcards for the individual main fields were given to players from France.
by tennisnet.com
last edit:
May 21, 2021, 05:04 pm
Andy Murray could probably have made the difference. The French Tennis Association (FFT) would have given him a wild card for the main field at the French Open 2021 - alone: Murray decided after a few training sessions in Rome that he would not have a clay court tournament this year. And therefore renounced a start in Roland Garros.
And so the FFT was able to allocate the free places in the 128 tables for women and men in the second major of the season without paying special attention to convalescent or well-earned tennis stars. 14 out of 16 wildcards went to French players, only the Australians took out a guarantee for Astra Sharma and an as yet unnamed Australian man due to a mutual agreement.
There are also loose connections between the FFT and the Canadian Association, but this only led to Carol Zhao's free ticket in the qualification grid.
Hugo Gaston stands out in particular from the pool of wildcard recipients. He had defeated Stan Wawrinka at the French Open last autumn and tormented Dominic Thiem in the round of 16 with a myriad of stop balls. After that, however, not much came from Gaston - which is why he is now dependent on a wildcard again.
These women will get a wildcard for Roland Garros 2021:
- BABEL Océane (FRA)
- BUREL Clara (FRA)
- DODIN Océane (FRA)
- JACQUEMOT Elsa (FRA)
- PAQUET Chloé (FRA)
- PARRY Diane (FRA)
- SHARMA Astra (AUS) *
- TAN Harmony (FRA)
These men will get a wildcard for Roland Garros 2021:
- BARRERE Grégoire (FRA)
- BONZI Benjamin (FRA)
- BOURGUE Mathias (FRA)
- CAZAUX Arthur (FRA)
- COUACAUD Enzo (FRA)
- GASTON Hugo (FRA)
- BEEF KNECH Arthur (FRA)