Who Should Get the Wimbledon Wild Cards?

Serena, Venus, Chwalinska, Berrettini, Dimitrov, Evans, Kyrgios, Monfils, Wawrinka and more are all part of a loaded list of possible candidates.

The wild cards into Wimbledon will be announced this week, and cor blimey, the committee is going to have to make some tough and fascinating decisions this year.

Wimbledon, as you’ll read below, has often had a very different philosophy on wild cards than the other majors, as data from this century compiled by Bounces shows. Rather than maximally hoarding its spots for domestic British players—often a thin crop—Wimbledon has proven much more willing to give its invitations to foreign players, without doing so as part of a reciprocal cabal.

Sometimes, Wimbledon doesn’t even use all eight of its allotted wild cards, which is unheard of at the other majors. But there’s zero chance that any of the wild cards go unused this year, given how long the lists of appealing and worthy candidates are.

On its website, Wimbledon delineates that “wild cards are usually offered on the basis of past performance at Wimbledon or to increase British interest.” So with that in mind, let’s look at how the All-England Club might sort through not only the usual crop of plucky Brits but also a long list of household names outside the cut on both the men’s and women’s sides.

Matteo Berrettini? Grigor Dimitrov? Dan Evans? Nick Kyrgios? Gael Monfils? Stan Wawrinka?

Bianca Andreescu? Maja Chwalinska? Robin Montgomery? Heather Watson? Serena Williams? Venus Williams?

Let’s make the case for and against each of them—and a whole lot more players—below!

Considering all of these names and more, plus a whole raft of British hopefuls—and data on wild card allotment across the majors this century—all below the jump for paid Bounces subscribers! And I would also love to hear your own preferences and predictions in the comments below! -Ben