The Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) has changed the policy for selecting British players for a wildcard entry at Wimbledon: A world ranking inside the top 250 will no longer be enough to earn British players a wildcard. The LTA had previously advised the All England Club of the wildcard entries, with a policy to select top-250 players. But chief executive Michael Downey and director of player development Bob Brett, both of whom joined the governing body last year, were known not to be fans of such a rigid criteria. Spokesperson from the organization said that it now plans to nominate those who have the best change of performing well. Both felt players should show more than an ability simply to remain at a certain level, and that will now be the case. Improved prize money at the Grand Slams has made wildcards increasingly valuable, with last year’s first-round losers taking home £27,000. The new policy is likely to favour younger players, while those who have received a number of wildcards in the past will have to do a lot to prove they deserve one. Downey and Brett will have been well aware that the success of British wild cards at Wimbledon in recent years has been extremely limited. Last year, of eight players given main-draw wild cards, only Naomi Broady won her first-round match. Decisions on which players to recommend will be made by a panel consisting of Brett, head of men’s tennis Leon Smith and head of women’s tennis Iain Bates.
An LTA spokeswoman said: “This year, in agreement with the All England Lawn Tennis Club, the LTA will not be using ATP and WTA rankings (250 for singles and 400 combined for doubles) as a basis for recommendation to the AELTC for main draw and qualifying wild cards at The Championships, 2015.
“This revised approach will enable the LTA to give consideration to attributes in addition to rankings when nominating those players who have the best chance of performing well in The Championships. These additional attributes will include attitude, professionalism, game development and recent form.”
“I think it is a good thing for the LTA to send a message about what they expect from their players,” said Barry Cowan, the Sky Sports commentator, who received nine wild cards in his career and won two matches, while also taking Pete Sampras to five sets in a famous encounter on Court No 1 in 2001.
“However, there is a danger that the players ranked around 300 in the world will feel that they are receiving no encouragement.
“I have been there, and you do not think in terms of being the best player in the world; you think about cracking the top 200, and then the top 150 and so on. If you make those people feel as if they are worthless to British tennis then a lot of them will quit and then tomorrow’s youngsters will have fewer mid-ranking opponents to measure themselves against.”
LTA changes Wimbledon wildcard policy for British players
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