Wild cards?

Question

Hello! Whenever there's a grand slam, there seems to be a wild card recipient who seems out of place with the list of recipients. One wild card recipient is always ranked safely inside the top 100 yet still is in the wild card list.

For example, take this year's Wimbledon. The list of singles wild card recipients make sense with top British players who are just not ranked high enough to make the main draw, but there is Jeremy Chardy and Frank Dancevic in the list for men's. These two have been ranked inside the top 100 since the end of French Open.

On the women's side, Sam Stosur being given a wild card makes sense since she is really a great top 30 player but is ranked outside of top 100 due to past injury. But Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain is ranked in the top 50 (No.49) since the ending of the French Open yet she gets a card.

It can't be a timing thing because the wild cards were just announced and the draw doesn't come out yet. The last rankings were done last Mon.

Answer 1

I think being in the top 100 is generally good enough to gain direct entry into the slams, but not necessarily, as must be the case this year at Wimbledon.  Both Dancevic and Chardy are both just inside the top 100, but the entry deadline for Wimbledon was probably several weeks or even a month ago (before the French Open started), and they may not have been among the players ranked high enough to gain direct entry at that time.  Carla Suarez Navarro definitely wasn't ranked high enough at the time of the entry deadline, as she was ranked outside the top 100 before the French Open.

Answer 2

well, I do not really get the question, but all you write makes perfectly sense

Wimbledon entry list was made before RG and that's why players like Suarez Navarro and Chardy were awarded wildcards

Answer 3

You are right. It just does not make any sense. Carla Suarez-Navarro should be in Wimbledon because of her rankings. She does not need a wild card to be in Wimbledon.

I can only think of this as a timing issue. Direct entries to Wimbledon (entries based on ranking) were decided before the French Open concluded. Thats why Carla Suarez, Jeremy Chardy did not get a direct entry and hence had to come through the wild card route.