Having failed to anticipate the LTA’s refusal, Maria entered the second-tier Lexus Birmingham Open, which starts this week, but she now finds herself in a quandary. Should she reach the quarter-finals in Birmingham, she will be unable to travel to Queen’s Club for the qualifying event at the end of this week. And if she cannot defend her title, her ranking will automatically plunge outside the world’s top 100.
The HSBC Championships will feature 28 players. Eighteen of these have earned their places via ranking alone, while six more will go through qualifying. The remainder are beneficiaries of four wild cards presented at the discretion of tournament organisers.
Emma Raducanu – who made a late decision not to play in Birmingham next week despite having previously intimated that she was looking for a wild card into that event – is the only British woman with a high enough ranking to play at Queen’s on her own merit.
Any other Britons – who would presumably include Katie Boulter, Fran Jones and Harriet Dart – would have to either come through qualifying (for those whose rankings are high enough) or hope for a wild card from the LTA.
Wild cards can often throw up controversy, as there are various different ways to decide who deserves to bypass the meritocracy of direct entry. Famous names – such as Serena Williams – are generally seen to enhance the commercial prospects of an event, while former champions are sometimes favoured, and national interest can also come into play.
In a statement, the LTA said: “No final decision has been made on the wild cards yet, but our approach is to prioritise British or WTA top-10 players.”
