This week will see Wimbledon reveal its eight picks for male players who will get a Wimbledon wildcard.
Arguably, never before has there been such competition for these spots.
After all, whilst some places like Jack Draper’s are guaranteed, or Dan Evans, who will retire straight after Wimbledon, the rest are completely up for grabs.
That will leave the likes of Stan Wawrinka, Matteo Berrettini, Nick Kyrgios, Grigor Dimitrov and more all scrambling for the opportunity to move straight into the main draw and bypass the qualifiers.
Tennis fans seem pretty certain on who out of these four is deserving of the wildcards.
Tennis fans think Grigor Dimitrov deserves a Wimbledon wildcard alongside Stan Wawrinka
It was posed to social media that, of this quartet, you could only pick two to get the spots. This is assuming that Wimbledon, as they so often do, will occupy the rest of them with British players.
Unsurprisingly, Wawrinka stood out and won the majority of the vote, thus leaving one final place up for debate.
You’re the Wimbledon tournament director… which TWO of these players are you giving a wildcard to?
Whilst Kyrgios and Berrettini are both former finalists at Wimbledon, it was actually Dimitrov who seemed to appeal more. His exploits at last year’s event, where he was forced to retire from his match against Jannik Sinner whilst two sets to love up, clearly are still fresh in the memory.
One fan wrote: “I’m Italian, but Grigor after last year deserves it! Berrettini is in the second place, he should be in with a more reasonable timing. Stan for his last dance I love Nick but he doesn’t deserve it.”
This seemed to be a popular opinion, with another stating: “Stan and Grigor with Matteo a very close 3rd.” Such a comment pretty much echoed this sentiment: “Stan #1 and Grigor #2 Matteo #3, sorry Nick I luv ya but these 3 names are more deserving.”
Many explicitly referenced Dimitrov’s stellar performance last year, where he had the world number one on the ropes before tearing his pec and departing the court in tears.
This led another fan to argue: “Grigor as he was beating Sinner last year when he went down with a bad injury. Stan also deserves it in his final year.”
However, whilst this seemed to be the popular opinion, one supporter felt like their calls might fall on deaf ears.
They stated: “Stan & Grigor. For ratings’ sake, they’ll put Nick in.”
Do Matteo Berrettini and Nick Kyrgios deserve Wimbledon wildcards?
Realistically, a case can be made for all four of these stars to be given a Wimbledon wildcard.
However, as Wawrinka and Dimitrov’s have already been made by the above fans, it’s worth instead focusing on Berrettini and Kyrgios.
As per the Wimbledon website, they claim that: “Wild cards are usually offered on the basis of past performance at Wimbledon or to increase British interest.”
What would be a successful season for Nick Kyrgios in 2026?
Realistically, this applies to both of these stars.
Both are former finalists, and whilst Kyrgios might not have much recent five-set experience in the bank, he guarantees entertainment.
Berrettini, meanwhile, is coming off the back of a run to the quarter-finals at the French Open, where he was forced to retire with injury.
Both would offer something unique to the Championships, and have past success here too.
