Last May, around this time, I wrote an article about wildcards at majors and essentially said that eight wildcards given out is fine, just make sure that two of them are based on merit, as opposed to random local players who amount to nothing more than a First Round bye. I mean, we all saw the level of resistance wildcard, and current world number 368, Manon Arcangioli put up in her horrific 6-2, 6-0 loss to unseeded Irina Falconi in the French Open last year. However, this year I have decided to put my foot down and call for a change due to, finally, my realization of just how far tournaments will go to promote the local talent of their choosing, with politics certainly playing a role in the decision-making process.
Let me start out by saying that, upon review, a player such as Arcangioli should have never been included in the draw in the first place. I'm not sure what her ranking was at the time of her inclusion, but given that her career high ranking was 268 in March of 2015, I'm guessing it was around there, probably a bit lower. And while I understand why the French Tennis Federation might want a bunch of players from France in the main draw of their home major, I think that this desire should definitely be balanced with the possibility that the players will be able to be, at the very least, competitive in the main draw. Because, at the end of the day, a close will draw up more interest than a blowout, no matter who's involved. Arcangioli proved in the process of getting demolished by Falconi that she was nowhere near the level of a player who could win a round in qualies, let alone a round in the main draw.
However, instead of learning their lesson, the French Tennis Federation seems to be going down a similar path this year with the inclusion of Tessah Andrianjafitrimo as a wildcard in the main draw of the tournament. To be honest, seeing her name on the wildcard list was just embarrassing. Currently ranked number 313 in the world with a paltry 129 ranking points (although when the wildcards were released, I believe she was 311 in live rankings), Andrianjafitrimo has to be one of the worst recipients to a wildcard that I have ever seen.
And it's not as if her recent results are even close enough to making up for her horrible ranking. Her only noteworthy result this season was making the Final of a clay court 10k tournament. For those who do not know, a 10k is essentially the equivalent of a tennis tournament just above the "amateur" level and shouldn't even be near the thought process of someone deciding who should receive a French Open wildcard. And, besides that result, this year has been extremely poor for Tessah. She lost in the opening round of qualies for a 50k tournament in Croissy-Beaubourg and even had a poor result today, in the opening round of qualies for the International-level event in Strasbourg. Today, Tessah lost 6-4, 6-4 to world number 143 in the live rankings, Yafan Wang. While I guess you could say that at least Tessah made the sets competitive today against Wang, the fact that she couldn't win a set against someone far out of the top 100 in the first round of qualies certainly suggests, to me, that she should be far from the CONVERSATION of who should get a wildcard to one of tennis' four most prestigious events.
A few articles back, I wrote a piece backing the USTA for giving Taylor Townsend the US reciprocal wildcard over Louisa Chirico. And, I still stand by every word I wrote in that article. However, I can't help feel bad for Louisa, along with other players who have had good results this season or was successful at Roland Garros in the past. This list includes Istanbul champ Cagla Buyukakcay, and Andrea Mitu, who made the Fourth Round of the French Open last year. But, instead, these players will be playing in the qualifying tournament, while Andrianjafitrimo waltzes into the main draw. So, for those who want Chirico to get Townsend's wildcard, don't get mad at the USTA, instead, be angry with the French Tennis Federation for selfishly choosing a poor player of their own instead of these other, much more deserving, options.
But, let's say that French Tennis Federation is desperate to have all French player receive the wildcards, besides the two reciprocal wildcards. Let's take a look if there was higher ranked players who were overlooked, skipped over by Andiranjafitrimo for the wildcard. And, sure enough, currently ranked 212 (101 ahead of Tessah right now, and I believe 99 when the wildcard was announced) is Sherazad Reix. Reix actually won a WTA match this season, beating Marand in Bogota and actually taking nine games off Irina Falconi in her next match, a stark contrast to the two taken by Arcangioli. Mathilde Johansson, current world number 216, was also passed over for the wildcard. In fact, Stephanie Foretz, current world number 237 in live rankings, Chloe Paquet, number 263 (live rankings), and hell, even Julie Coin (currently in retirement, but at 306 in live rankings) are higher ranked than Tessah. And so, for me at least, it seems a bit odd that a player was chosen for a wildcard, when five other players (four of them active) from the same country are ahead of her in the rankings.
So, personally, this stinks of under-the-table poltiics. There is no excuse for Andrianjafitrimo to receive the wildcard over these other Frenchwomen, if we are really forced to have six French wildcards. I mean, I understand that Tessah is extremely young, at 17 years old, but her results have forced me to say that she isn't ready yet for this moment. It's just too early, and there are just too many other deserving players who could possibly justify getting the wildcard to just stick Andrianjafitrimo in the draw.
Tessah will have her whole career to rise in the rankings, and eventually play in the French, but ranked outside of the Top 300 and struggling in lower-level tournaments should not warrant a wildcard to one of the biggest tournaments of the season. The French Tennis Federation has made it very clear that they only gave this wildcard to her because she is 17 years old, and are praying for a "Cici Bellis 2014 US Open" result. But, how young a player is should NEVER factor into the decision to give a player a wildcard and is a horrible excuse. But, because, much like the USTA, the French Tennis Federation is intent on pushing young tennis talent in France in a vain attempt at popularizing tennis in France, at the expense of older players, this is what we get. And, in my opinion, it's just plain disrespectful to other players for the French Tennis Foundation to give it to her.
So, what suggestions do I now have for addressing this wildcard situation. Well, first off, I would (if I were the ITF) force tournament directors to reduce the number of wildcards allowed in the draw at majors from eight to two. There are just too many of these lower-ranked players in the draw, taking the spots of players who are simply much better than them at tennis. And while it might be more exciting to see a wildcard win a round at a major than a random journeyman or journeywoman, that doesn't make it any more acceptable.
Second, I would (if I were the ITF) set a hard cut-off for the lowest ranking a wildcard is allowed to have. Personally, I would set this cutoff at #250 in the world at the time of handing out wildcards. This way, the tournament can be more sure that players they are giving their wildcards to actually have a shot at winning a round in the main draw and are not "walking byes". This would mean, in the context of this article, that both Arcangioli and Andrianjafitrimo would not be eligible for a wildcard. And the only exceptions to this rule would be players using a special ranking, which would not include Manon nor Tessah.
I know this article seems very harsh, but this is what needed to be said. The wildcard system at majors has gotten out of control.
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