At The All England Club, wild cards have won singles and doubles titles, know the wild card winners in the history of Wimbledon
Wild cards are far from being space fillers in the Wimbledon draws, as history has shown.
Wimbledon Wild Card Winners Full List And Best Wildcards Of All Time
This year’s wild card recipients will try to match some of the most unexpected runs in tournament history, from Marcos Baghdatis and Paul Jubb in singles to Lleyton Hewitt and Jordan Thompson in doubles. ATPTour.com looks back at The All England Club’s five most memorable wild cards.
Goran Ivanisevic (2001 champion)
When Ivanisevic finished his incredible run to the victory, there wasn’t a dry eye in the house. After three runner-up finishes (1992, 1994, and 1998), injuries forced him to drop out of the ATP Top 100. With a 13-22 ATP Tour record over the preceding 12 months, Ivanisevic arrived in 2001 as a sentimental favourite.
However, the Croatian resurfaced, defeating Carlos Moya, Andy Roddick, Marat Safin, and Tim Henman en way to the final against Patrick Rafter. The final was postponed to an unusual “People’s Monday” due to rain. A lottery was used to distribute 10,000 tickets to spectators in line, the majority of whom were loud enough to give Centre Court the energy of a football match.
Ivanisevic won in a classic 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 2-6, 9-7 after more than three hours of play. He is the only male player to win a Grand Slam singles championship as a wild card and the lowest-ranked player (No. 125) to win Wimbledon.
Nick Kyrgios (2014 quarter-finals)
Kyrgios, then 19, was given a wild card after winning an ATP Challenger Tour event on grass in Nottingham earlier that month. The Australian made the most of it, coming back from two sets down to overcome No. 13 seed Richard Gasquet in the second round before shocking second seed Rafael Nadal in the fourth round. He became the first male newcomer to reach the Wimbledon quarter-finals since Florian Mayer in 2004 thanks to his daring shotmaking during the four-set victory.
Kyrgios lost in the quarterfinals to Milos Raonic, but his performance vaulted him into the Top 100 of the ATP Rankings and signalled his entrance as a major talent.
Juan Carlos Ferrero (2009 quarter-finals)
Injuries had pushed the former World No. 1 outside the Top 100 of the ATP Rankings, but he rediscovered his form on grass earlier this month at the Fever-Tree Championships, where he reached the semi-finals. Ferrero arrived on a high note, matching his previous best finish at this tournament by defeating No. 10 seed Fernando Gonzalez and eighth seed Gilles Simon to get to the quarter-finals.
Ferrero would lose to Andy Murray, but he would go on to re-enter the Top 20 the following season.
The next year, the Australian defeated Ivan Lendl to earn his lone Grand Slam title.
Jonathan Marray and Frederik Nielsen (2012 champions)
The tournament’s only wild card men’s doubles champions weren’t even meant to play together. Marray was supposed to play partner Adil Shamasdin, however, their ATP Doubles Rankings prevented them from entering the tournament.
In the semi-finals, Marray and Nielsen defeated defending champions Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan before defeating Robert Lindstedt and Horia Tecau in five sets for the title. The victory was neither player’s first ATP Tour-level doubles title, and Marray became the first British men’s doubles champion at Wimbledon since 1936.
Nielsen fulfilled the job that his grandpa, Kurt Nielsen, had nearly completed 60 years earlier by capturing a Wimbledon title. In 1953 and 1955, Kurt reached the men’s singles final.