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Stan Wawrinka - Shanghai Masters 2024, Ajla Tomljanovic - Indian Wells 2021
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Australian Open 2025 wildcards announced including former champion


The Australian Open have announced the wildcards for the 2025 tournament, that includes former champion Stan Wawrinka.

Wawrinka won his first of three Grand Slam titles at the Australian Open back in 2014, after beating Rafael Nadal in a four set final victory.

The Swiss has featured in the main draw of all but one of the past 19 editions of the Melbourne major, only missing the 2022 tournament due to a foot injury.

However, after falling down to World No.161 Wawrinka was unable to qualify for the Australian Open directly this year and has required a wildcard for his 19th main draw appearance at the tournament.

Upon the news of receiving his wildcard, the 39-year-old expressed how grateful he was to Tennis Australia, “I’m incredibly grateful to receive a wildcard into the Australian Open in 2025. Melbourne holds such a special place in my heart – it’s where I won my first Grand Slam and is one of the greatest milestones of my career.

“The city, the people, the loud fans and the electric atmosphere make the Australian Open so special to me and I’m really looking forward to getting back on the court in Melbourne.”

Wawrinka is one of seven men’s singles wildcards to have been awarded so far, alongside Australian hopefuls James McCabe, Tristan Schoolkate and Li Tu.

While the Asia-Pacific play-off wildcard was won by Thai player Kasidit Samrej, with reciprocal wildcards expected to be awarded to former top 10 player Lucas Pouille (France) and teenager Nishesh Basavareddy (USA).

The wildcards for the women’s singles event have been given to Australian players Ajla Tomljanovic, Talia Gibson, Maya Joint and junior World No.1 Emerson Jones.

Former No.22 Zhang Shuai was the victor of the Asia-Pacific play-off, with Chloe Paquet (France) and 16-year-old Iva Jovic (USA) receiving the reciprocal wildcards as players from other Grand Slam nations.

The Australian Open main draw will get underway on Sunday 12th January, with one more main draw wildcard for the men’s singles draw still yet to be revealed.

Inside the baseline…

With all the recent retirements of the likes of Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray, it is so great to still have a player like Stan Wawrinka on the ATP Tour. Although the three-time major winner has suffered a significant ranking drop in recent months, he is still thoroughly deserving of a wildcard as a former champion. And Wawrinka does still have flashes of brilliance in his game, having shown that in recent months by reaching the semi-finals in Stockholm after beating top 10 player Andrey Rublev. It will also be very intriguing to see how some of the home wildcards fare in Melbourne, with lots of young talents being given wildcards for the Australian Open next year.

READ MORE: Nick Kyrgios to reunite in doubles team that previously won Australian Open

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Matthew Johns, Tennishead Writer, is a professional tennis journalist with a specialist degree in Sports Journalism. He's a keen tennis player having represented his local club and University plus he's also a qualified tennis coach. Matthew has a deep knowledge of tennis especially the ATP Tour and thrives on breaking big tennis news stories for Tennishead.