Wimbledon women take a walk on the wildcard side
A RECORD number of female British players have been given wildcards at Wimbledon this year.
Eight main draw singles places in the championships are awarded to eight men and eight women, with six of the women’s places this year going to British players.
The previous high was in 2013, when five British women were chosen as wildcards.
Katie Boulter, 21, made her Wimbledon debut last year, and this year is joined by singles newcomers Harriet Dart, 21, Katy Dunne, 23, Katie Swan, 19, and Gabriella Taylor, 20.
They are joined by Naomi Broady, 28, who has played at Wimbledon several times.
Jeremy Bates, head coach of women’s tennis at the Lawn Tennis Association credited their close relationship with their simultaneous success.
He said: “They’ve grown up playing and competing together… Ultimately there’s no magic formula – it’s credit to them. They all have a good mentality and have worked very hard to earn those wildcards.”
Boulter said she has a close circle of young, female British friends who she socialises with and supports on tour. She told The Sunday Telegraph: “It’s difficult because you compete against them at the same time, but I have friends in a small circle that I trust.”
She added: “Last year it was mainly just me [as a wildcard], this year there’s been a really good group of girls who have picked up to that leve level.
“I am so pleased for the girls that we are all doing so we well, it’s really good for British tennis, it means we have a really good chance this yea year, we’re all playing against t top 100 players.” The tennis tenn star, who has risen from fro 235th in the world to 139th in just a year year, thinks she and her peers are likely to be the next gener generation of tennis star stars, adding: “Whether we dominate this y year or in five years’ tim time is something w we will have
to se see.”
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