Errani given Classic wildcard
Sara Errani has been given a wildcard for next week’s women’s ASB Classic.
While it’s not a like for like swap with Victoria Azarenka, who pulled out on Christmas Eve because of the ongoing custody battle she is having with her former partner, Billy McKeague over the custody of their son, Leo, Errani is a player people will recognise.
Errani is a former world No 5 and has won nine WTA titles over her career. However, her ranking has dropped to 132 in the world and this year she served a twomonth ban for failing a drugs test.
The 30-year-old Italian, who reached the final of the French Open in 2012, tested positive for the banned drug letrozole.
Eranni’s mother was taking the medication as part of her treatment for breast cancer and she claimed some pills were dropped on a kitchen worktop where food was later prepared.
A tribunal panel accepted she had probably consumed the banned drug by eating contaminated food, but ruled Errani should have done more to protect herself from taking the medication.
The International Tennis Federation appointed an independent tribunal which came to the conclusion that there were no performance enhancing benefits for Errani in taking letrozole.
Because of this, Errani escaped a two-year suspension, but was banned for two months from August 3. On her return, she made an impressive start, coming through qualifying to make the semifinals of the WTA tournament in Tianjin and she has improved her ranking by 148 spots since the comeback.
The Classic will be the first tournament to give her a wildcard since her return. While there won’t be an outcry like the one surrounding Maria Sharapova when she came back from her drugs ban, there are similarities between the two players’ situations.
Tournament director Karl Budge doesn’t feel it’s a controversial move to give her a wildcard. ‘‘The WTA are pretty happy with her playing tennis and so are we,’’ Budge said.
Budge said Errani was someone he had in mind for a wildcard for a while, with the Italian keen on making the trip to New Zealand to start 2018. ‘‘You have these players in place that you know if you need to give a wildcard to at the last minute, you can,’’ he said.
‘‘Sara was always looking at coming and playing doubles out here, although we had a conversation with her about four weeks about about giving her a main draw wildcard if we had that opportunity.
‘‘I couldn’t promise anything four weeks ago, but we always knew it was likely we’d offer her one closer to the time.’’
While Errani is a good addition to the field, she could be a real spoiler for the tournament if she gets drawn against one of the marquee players.
‘‘She’s a top 20 player, she’s been a top 10 player for a long time, so she’ll be tough to beat,’’ Budge said. ‘‘She’ll be unseeded, so where she lands, we don’t know. I wouldn’t like her taking on a Caroline Wozniacki or Agnieszka Radwanska for their first match of the year.
‘‘She’s a very solid player, you don’t get to grand slam finals without being solid. It’s a good edition to the draw at this time of year.’’
Without getting into complicated rules, there are likely to be two more wildcards on offer for the women’s Classic.