Should There Be Wildcards At Majors?

Over at Men's tennis forums, there is a nice debate going on about whether or not there should be wildcards at majors, and as I wanted to resurrect this blog, I thought that would be a good topic to resurrect with.

As you can see here, these wildcards for the French Open aren't going to the guys and girls ranked just below the main draw cut off or just below the qualifying cut off.  We aren't seeing Dustin Brown, for instance, get rewarded for his hard work, not have to worry about qualifying, and instead get a main draw wildcard.  Instead, these wildcards are going to mainly the French (although there are reciprocity agreements with Australia and the US), and are either going to young guns looking for a head start on the tour, or older guys/gals being rewarded for their time on tour (or recent success).  The first group would be, in this year's selection of wild cards, players like Dodin, Halys, or Chung (for the qualifying draw) and the second group would be players like Mahut and Razzano.

So, I've read the vast majority of the thread on this topic on MTF, and from what I gather, there are two sides.  The first (pro-wild card) side is that wild cards drive ticket sales, improve the atmosphere at the event, and generally just create a buzz around the community when a home wild card is playing.  The other (anti-wild card) side says that more deserving players who just missed the cut off should get into the major instead of wild cards.

So, what side am I on?  I admit, I'm copping out a little bit here, but if we stick to the eight wild cards for the main draw, I think that maybe six of the wild cards should be for local players (and possibly reciprocity agreements, although that is up for the majors to decide), and maybe two should go to players who have had a good run of form lately, but maybe just missed the cut off (the same general principle applies for qualifying too).  That way we can get a buzz on the grounds for a young gun, like Halys for instance, but at the same time reward a couple of men and a couple of women who might not have made the cut, but are really playing well and are sure to be competitive in the main draw.  An example of that, for instance, could be Kokkinakis for the men (although he is already getting a reciprocity wild card, the principle is the same).  Perhaps say that whoever wins the Bordeaux Challenger, French or not, gets a wild card into the main draw.

Just my thoughts on this matter.  Happy to be back!