Madrid’s controversial wild card and its slight attachment to Spanish players | Relief

In the first game of Nadal’s match, everything became quite clear. The boy in front of me, tall and young, dedicated himself to throwing the ball to the places where the point goes up on the opponent’s scoreboard. Darwin Blanch has a future, let’s see if it really is bright, but at present he was at headquarters in Madrid, like an Inuit in the desert. After that, Nadal was elegant, very, very emphasizing that this is a value for the future, but it is not in the present.

This shouldn’t come as a surprise either, since in a meritocracy like tennis, the boy is ranked 1028th in the world. If you do the exercise and go to the ATP website to look for him in the rankings, you won’t find him because the published list doesn’t go beyond 700. Of course, it’s normal that this boy played a futures satellite. tournaments, and not on the center court of one of the best tournaments in the world. The reason was the Wild Card, one of those invitations that championships have to fill the bracket. with some players who want to.

Who each tournament invites to these places is completely arbitrary – the rest are awarded depending on the ranking – and this is demonstrated by the Madrid Open, which for this occasion gathered in the men’s draw, in addition to Blanche, Jerry Shang, João Fonseca, Ziza Bergs and Martin Landaluce. Only the last one is Spanish, and this is relevant because what usually happens in tournaments is the complete opposite of this.

that they fill the table with local players, either to give them a new opportunity, or, in the other case, with players who were important and dropped out due to some circumstances, so that they can avoid participating in the qualifiers and enjoy the tournament.

Two years ago, Spanish players such as Fernando Verdasco signed a letter complaining about the lack of attention the organization paid to their origins. “We find it surprising and very disappointing that Spain’s biggest tennis event shows such little (or no) support for Spanish tennis players. with the invitations provided, especially in the main draw,” they noted in a sharp letter. Paula Badosa supported them, remembering that the previous time in Madrid she had achieved an excellent result with the invitation and realizing that this is what she had to do.

Roberto Bautista said something similar this week.who was in the draw after the previous one in which he had to face Albert Ramos – he actually lost, he entered the main draw to replace an injury – and who seems unhappy with the way the organization is handing out invitations to the tournament.

“The truth is that I expected to receive an invitation, but hey, I have always been in the privileged position of listening to the complaints of my colleagues. I understand that the tournament belongs to IMG and favors its clients, I understand that they care about theirs, but I do not agree that a lot of money goes into this tournament from sponsors and Spanish institutions and that there is no benefit from it.. This doesn’t happen anywhere in the world, in any country, in any of the tournaments I play in, we don’t see anything like this. This only happens here,” said the tennis player from Castellon.

Bautista is one of the world’s most typical invitees, having suffered a horse accident last year that caused him to lose his ranking and now he feels like a tennis player again. Players with this type of career often seek help. In fact, the Madrid Open itself was going to do this this year with Wozniacki, Halep or Nishikori

, although the latter two had to decline the invitation due to physical reasons. It would not have been surprising if they had invited Pablo Martinez Portero, the still young Spanish player, Estoril finalist and 55th in the world, but they did not find it convenient.

Line of other tournaments

At the tournament they explain that in fact there is a delicate attitude towards the Spaniards. “Wildcards are awarded at the discretion of the tournament, and We take into account the requests of local players, promising players and players returning after some absence from tennis.. It is important for us to have a strong representation of Spanish players and this year we have eight local players in the men’s and women’s draws,” explains a tournament official.

But they also remember that this event has a global perspective, it is one of the greatest tournaments in the world, and it is run that way. “Players of international interest are very important in the ATP Masters 1000 and WTA 1000 tournaments.as we strive to attract fans to Madrid and show everything it has to offer on the world stage through our global broadcast,” they highlight.

The most persistent accusation is that since 2021, when the tournament was acquired by the multinational IMG, the criteria for granting invitations are very businesslike, always related to the company that, in addition to organizing the championships, represents the players and There are academies there, so showing them off to the world in better places is a temptation that their critics say they can’t resist.. As for Blanch, who was also in Miami, he is part of the consortium. Landalucé repeated the invitation this season and in both editions lost in the first round, although in his case he is a Spaniard with excellent predictions.

For comparison, the next major tournament on the calendar is Rome. The organizer of this event is the Italian Tennis Federation, so the incentive to attract as many transalpine players as possible to the draw is maximum. This year Berrettini, Fognini, Gigante, Zeppieri and Vavassori.

. The names do not deceive, the federation did what it had to do: absorb as much as possible.

The same thing will happen at Roland Garros. In fact, three years ago the Frenchman Luc Pouille was invited to Madrid, and Verdasco noted that he was happy for his friend, but could not imagine that he would ever be invited to Roland Garros. Last year there were six Worlds for the main draw and another nine for qualifying, and all fifteen were for French players.

It is true that both Paris and Rome are unique tournaments, as they are owned by organizations whose main motive is to promote their own players. IMG is kind of doing the same thing with theirs, although perhaps they went a little overboard with Blanch. ANDThe 16-year-old boy was not up to par. in this category tournament.