Tsonga joins the line for wildcard
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga is a possibility of playing at the ASB Classic but tournament director Karl Budge is more than happy to play the waiting game.
Tsonga joined the list of potential options for the men’s tournament, which begins on January 8, when he pulled out of next week’s Qatar Open due to a wrist injury.
The 15th-ranked Frenchman remains hopeful of playing at the Australian Open later in January, but if he wants to get some match practice in before the first Grand Slam of 2018 he has to make a choice between events in Auckland or Sydney.
Tsonga is one of several highprofile players who have either been hampered by or are returning from injury, including Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray and Milos Raonic.
And while Djokovic and Nadal have declined the opportunity to come to Auckland, Budge is in no hurry to make a decision on the two available wildcard places.
‘‘We’ll hold until I have one that I think is worthwhile,’’ Budge said.
‘‘Jo, Milos, Marcos Baghdatis,
Jo, Milos, Marcos Baghdatis, there’s a number of options in that space at the moment. Karl Budge
there’s a number of options in that space at the moment. But until we’ve got one where it’s worth us committing now, we’ll hold it as long as we need to. The fact that the phone vibrated yesterday from Jo’s agent says why we hold. You wait for that opportunity and there’s no reason at the moment for us to commit early.’’
Tsonga, who has been as high as fifth in the world rankings, made the semifinals during his only previous appearance in Auckland in 2016.
A crowd favourite on the ATP Tour for the best part of a decade, the 32-year-old’s presence would add plenty of value to the tournament. But a decision may well be determined by how much Tsonga’s injury progresses over the next week.
‘‘He knows we’ve got a wildcard up our sleeve, he knows we’ll hold one,’’ Budge said. ‘‘[But] I’ve said I won’t necessarily commit it if he turned around and said ‘yep, I want to play’.
‘‘It’s a shame for Doha that they don’t have someone like Jo playing there. But we’ll just sit back and wait and fingers crossed these guys decide that they’ll take some more match time.’’
Regardless of who receives the wildcards, Budge can sit back knowing most of the heavy lifting for the field has been done.
‘‘That field is probably the best lineup I’ve put together, guys or girls,’’ he said. ‘‘There’s just so much in the field this year of genuine top-end talent.’’