By Richard Pagliaro | @Tennis_Now | Thursday, June 27, 2024
Photo credit: Rob Newell/Camera Sport
Wimbledon women wild cards will be dumped from the deck during week one, ESPN analyst Patrick McEnroe asserts.
Four of the eight Wimbledon ladies’ wild card recipients—2018 Wimbledon champion Angelique Kerber, Naomi Osaka, Briton Emma Raducanu and Caroline Wozniacki—are former Grand Slam champions. Osaka, Kerber and Wozniacki each returned to the pro Tour after giving birth.
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Two-time Wimbledon quarterfinalist Ajla Tomljanovic was awarded a Wimbledon wild card after her run to the Birmingham final last week. Four British women—Francesca Jones, Yuriko Lily Miyazaki, Heather Watson and Raducanu—received main-draw wild cards.
In a Zoom call with the media to promote ESPN’s Wimbledon coverage starting Monday, July 1st, Tennis Now asked ESPN analysts Patrick McEnroe and Chrissie Evert if any of the Wimbledon wild cards, or former US Open champion Bianca Andreescu, who doesn’t have a wild card but is an all-court danger when healthy, are capable of making a second-week run at The Championships.
McEnroe said he doesn’t see it happening for a variety of reasons, including what he calls a lack of variety grass-court tennis requires.
McEnroe says Osaka plays a straight-forward power-based baseline game. He points to Wozniacki and Kerber’s struggles since returning to the Tour after giving birth, though Wozniack beat 2023 Wimbledon semifinalist Elina Svitolina to reach the Bad Homburg quarterfinals this week. McEnroe suggests neither Raducanu, who toppled world No. 5 Jessica Pegula on Eastbourne’s grass yesterday for her first Top 10 career win, nor Andreescu, who pushed French Open finalist Jasmine Paolini to three sets in her first event back at Roland Garros then defeated Osaka en route to the ‘s-Hertogenbosch final on grass, possess enough variety for a second-week Wimbledon run.
“It’s very rare you see someone play straight-ahead tennis and be able to win Wimbledon, particularly now as the players have just gotten better,” McEnroe told Tennis Now during ESPN’s Zoom call. “It’s more of a backcourt game. There’s more slice, more variety.
“That’s a short way of me saying that I don’t think any of those women can make a big run at Wimbledon.”
Hall of Famer Chrissie Evert says she’s a believer in Raducanu’s game and says the 2021 US Open champion can ride a home wave of support at SW19.
“Emma has such excellent, like, foundation and fundamentals, that very little can go wrong in her game because she is so solid,” Evert told Tennis Now. “I think the injuries, the pressure of winning the US Open, has really kept her from improving even more so.
“She’s more mature right now. She’s overcome adversity and gotten stronger. She seems to be happy and enjoying her tennis. I for one am looking forward to watching her at Wimbledon.”
Of course, very few of us have first-hand experience facing a Grand Slam champion wild card on a Grand Slam stage as Patrick McEnroe does.
US Open fans well remember Patrick McEnroe building a two-sets to love lead over a then 174th-ranked wild card Jimmy Connors before the combustible Connors erupted for a 4-6, 6-7 (4), 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 comeback win in the Flushing Meadows first round sparking his spectacular 1991 US Open semifinal run at age 39.
We’ve seen flashes of inspiring form from both Osaka and Andreescu this season.
In Paris last month, Osaka built a 5-2 third-set lead over reigning Roland Garros champion Iga Swiatek and held match point. A stubborn Swiatek fought off a match point in the third set of their second-round meeting before battling back to complete a comeback 7-6(1), 1-6, 7-5 victory over the four-time major champion Osaka.
Still, McEnroe points to the fact Osaka has never surpassed the third round at Wimbledon, has not played The Championships since 2019 and has conceded she feels more comfortable on clay than grass as signs she will struggle at SW19 though he says she can challenge at the US Open.
“As well as Osaka played at the French, and I think she can play great at the US Open, for example, where it’s a typical bounce, she’s won four hard court majors, I don’t think she has the versatility to make a big, big run,” McEnroe told Tennis Now. “Same with Raducanu, at least at Wimbledon.
“Wozniacki, her comeback has not been great from a certain standpoint. She’s competitive, but she’s not winning a lot of matches.”
When it comes to versatility, few women can match Andreescu, who played slice forehands, slice backhands, moon balls and drop shots, all in the space of at two-game span, toppling Osaka on grass earlier this month.
Remember, last summer Andreescu pushed Wimbledon finalist and world No. 6 Ons Jabeur to three sets in the Wimbledon third round before the Tunisian prevailed, 6-4, in the third set and went on to her second straight final.
McEnroe says the lack of match play and confidence will be road blocks to an Andreescu Wimbledon run.
“Andreescu maybe has the most versatility of those players that I just mentioned, but I just don’t think has the belief and the confidence now that she can make a big run,” McEnroe said. “I’d be surprised if any one of those players make the second week of Wimbledon on the women’s side.”
