Roland Garros Wild Card Challenge kicks off in four weeks
For the eighth consecutive year, the lower-ranked American players will compete in four-week clay swing all over the world to determine one man and woman who will receive the Roland Garros wild cards. The men's action kicks off on April 8 and the wild card will go to the one who collects the most points in three out of four weeks, with seven ATP events and 11 Challengers (all on clay) as the possible battlegrounds. It will all start on April 8 in Houston, Marrakech, Barletta and Murcia and the spotlight should be on three American Har-Tru Challengers in Sarasota, Tallahassee and Savannah, with 260 points up for grabs.
Of course, two out of five biggest clay-court tournaments in the men's calendar will take place during this period in Monte Carlo and Barcelona although it is not very likely to expect the Americans ranked outside the top-100 in the qualifying draw at any of those events. The women's wild card will go to a player who collects the most points in two out of four weeks starting from April 15, with four USTA Pro Circuit W80 and W100 events combined with WTA tournaments in Istanbul, Prague, Rabat and Madrid. Just like in the men's Challenge, the winner should come from those USTA Pro Circuit events and the main favorites to secure the invitation are CoCo Vandeweghe, Christina McHale, Nicole Gibbs, Varvara Lepchenko, Claire Liu, Sachia Vickery and Allie Kiick.
The first winners of the Roland Garros Wild Card Challenge were Brian Baker and Melanie Oudin in 2012 and some young guns had the opportunity to make a debut in Paris thanks to their excellent Wild Card Challenge runs, including Taylor Townsend, Frances Tiafoe and Amanda Anisimova who traveled to France at the age of 15 back in 2017. The last year's winners were Noah Rubin and Taylor Townsend.
from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/2UOE0cK
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