2011 Heineken Open: Arnaud Clement granted last wild card
33-year-old Arnaud Clement of France received the final wild card for the 2011 Heineken Open Tennis competition starting from 10 January 2011 in Auckland, New Zealand.
Richard Palmer, who is the director of the tournament while commenting on Clement’s participation into the main draw, said on Friday, “A lot of people have asked if Arnaud is coming back and he is. He did a lot for the tournament and he is going to bring
something extra this time as well.”
The Geneva resident who turned professional back in 1996 recorded his career-best result in Auckland in 2010 when the right-hander made his way to the final of the event before eventually falling at the hands of American, John Isner. Isner overpowered the
Frenchman in three sets, 6-3, 5-7, 7-6.
Clement, who achieved his career-high ranking of world number 10 back in 2001, is currently placed at number 78 in the South African Airways ATP list. The right-hander also posted the best Grand Slam performance of his career during the same year by reaching
the final of the Australian Open in Melbourne.
According to the director, if the local players had performed up to the mark, they would have definitely been given wild cards into the main draw of the event. Rubin Statham and Dan King-Turner are the two names on top of the list who have underperformed
in the past and therefore failed to get direct entry into their home event.
Rubin is currently ranked number 450 in the world whereas King has an ATP ranking of 334. King’s form however was the main area of concern for Palmer due to which the right-hander failed to get the wild card as he is making a comeback on the tour after an
injury.
Palmer after announcing the name of the final wild card entrant also said, "You want to give it to everybody, but you cannot."
Kiwi top-ranked player Michael Venus as well as Nicolas Almagro of Spain are the two players who were previously given wild cards for the Auckland event.
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