wildcards and direct acceptence?

[andreroddick155]

lately ive been hearing a lot about wildcards and direct acceptences from the commentators on espn. Just earlier they were talking about murray getting a wild card because he was playing a challenger. I was curious and wanted to know what is a wild card and how do you get one? Another question is what is direct acceptence? Is it when the tourn. director allows like the top 32 ranked players to enter without qualies or wild card? Am I right? If i am could you guys still answer the other questions, thanks

 

[Tchocky]

The tournament director has the right to fill up the draw with Wild Cards. These are players who do not qualify for a tournament due to their low ranking but are usually very popular players for one reason or not. The Wild Cards are decided when a scheduled player withdraws for one reason or other. It is at the Tournament Director's discretion. I believe Direct Acceptance is when a player is invited to a tournament without having to qualify.

 

[Fee]

uh no, not exactly.

Direct acceptance is how tournament entries are decided (more info in the ATP rulebook). In a 32 player draw, there are usually 23 direct entries (leaving room for 4 qualifiers, 3 wildcards, and 2 special exempt spots). Direct entries are given to the highest ranked players who entered that particular tournament to fill the allotted numbers of spots (in this case 23). The players who didn't get in go onto the alternate list, and fill the spots as needed if a player withdraws. Wildcards are used at the tournament director's discretion. You may remember that Andre forgot to enter Houston by the entry deadline in April and he was given a wildcard the next day. Some wildcards are given way in advance, some are held until the last possible minute (for a variety of reasons, perhaps a lot of players request them).

In the case of the Cincy Masters, Andrew Murray was given a last minute wildcard mainly because Mardy Fish was injured and unable to take advantage of his. This freed up a WC. Murray was still playing in the Binghampton Challenger, unable to make the Cincy qualifying, so he was given the wildcard that Fish gave up.

Hope that helps. If not, ask me another question.

 

[andreroddick155]

thanks fee.

 

[BigboyDan]

Fee has it perfectly.

 

[Fee]

"Oh my gawd, you're a tennis freak!" - Justin Gimelstob, February 2003.

What can I say...

 

[andreroddick155]

Fee i have another question for you.
http://www.usta.com/ustanews/fullstory.sps?iNewsid=223664&itype=949&icategoryid=163
on the link i just posted, it says that james blake, mark, young, etc got wild card to the us open. But on the bottom, it says the people who got a wild card to qualify.i thought you dont need a wild card to qualify. i thought you could get in the qualies without wild card, you could just go in. Or is that just for challengers and other atp tournaments, like masters, and international series. pleaz reply. Fee

 

[goober]

Fee i have another question for you.
http://www.usta.com/ustanews/fullstory.sps?iNewsid=223664&itype=949&icategoryid=163
on the link i just posted, it says that james blake, mark, young, etc got wild card to the us open. But on the bottom, it says the people who got a wild card to qualify.i thought you dont need a wild card to qualify. i thought you could get in the qualies without wild card, you could just go in. Or is that just for challengers and other atp tournaments, like masters, and international series. pleaz reply. Fee

There are WC to qualifiers of tournaments as well. Theses are often given to juniors who don't have very much in the way of ATP ranking but can be given to other players as well. Qualifiers are like a mini-tournament with its own seeds and so forth.

 

[Fee]

A 32 player qualifier draw also has a certain number of spots alloted for wildcards. Each size draw has a certain number of wildcards set aside. This is also true for the qualifying draws of Challengers and Futures events.

This happened for the Cincy Masters last weekend. The first 52 players in the entry ranking got into Cincy directly (plus a few more when a few guys pulled out). That means the qualie draw for this tournament was taken from guys ranked beginning in the 60's. The last direct acceptance for the Qualifying draw was Clement, ranked 119 at the time. Gambill needed a wildcard just to get into the qualie draw because he was ranked 142 at the time. So yes, there are wildcards in qualie draws as well, for the guys who can't get in based on their rankings. Hope this helps. If not, ask me another one. I'm going to show this thread to Weller and see if I can leverage it for a USO ticket (if I go).

 

[Babblelot]

This is as good a thread as any to ask when the cut offs for entry are for the various tourneys. For example, I see someone like Verdasco ranked #48, but then I learn that his ranking wasn't high enough at the time the entry was made. How far in advance are the entries made for MS/slams? What about a smaller tourney like RCA (Indianapolis)?

Thanks.

 

[rhubarb]

This is as good a thread as any to ask when the cut offs for entry are for the various tourneys. For example, I see someone like Verdasco ranked #48, but then I learn that his ranking wasn't high enough at the time the entry was made. How far in advance are the entries made for MS/slams? What about a smaller tourney like RCA (Indianapolis)?

Thanks.

The entry cut-off date for the main draw of all ATP level tournaments (including slams) is six weeks before the start of the tournament.

 

[Babblelot]

Knowledge, it's a beautiful thing.

A couple of more questions (following the discussion with respect to Andrew Murray).

If someone in the main entry withdraws, is that slot necessarily replaced by a LL, or could, say, the US Open give Andrew Murray a W/C?

With respect to LL, do you have to reach the final round of the qualies? For example, say Murray lost in 2R of a qualifying match, could he still be given a LL?

Thanks.

 

[rhubarb]

If someone in the main entry withdraws, is that slot necessarily replaced by a LL, or could, say, the US Open give Andrew Murray a W/C?

If a WC from the main draw withdraws, they could give it to someone else. This is what happened in Cincinnati - Murray got Fish's WC when he pulled out.

If a non-WC entry withdraws, then who replaces him depends on when he pulls out. If it's prior to the start of qualifying (it might have to be prior to the quallie draw coming out, I'd need to check the rules on that), then the next on the main draw alternate list will get in. Often that player would have been entered for the qualifiers, so a replacement is also required in the qualifying competition too (from the qualifying alternate list).

If the withdrawl happens after quallies have started, then an LL will be added into the main draw, but not necessarily at that position - if the qualifiers haven't yet been placed in the draw, then the LL may get any of the LL/Q spots when they are placed.

With respect to LL, do you have to reach the final round of the qualies? For example, say Murray lost in 2R of a qualifying match, could he still be given a LL?

Not necessarily - I think someone got into a tournament the other week who had lost in the first round of qualifying. Those who have lost in the final round of quallies are considered first, in order of entry ranking, and if none of those guys are available (some just move on after they've lost), then the losers from the previous round are considered.

There are 16 Q spots in a Grand Slam draw, which means 16 3rd round losers. So for someone to be considered from the 2nd rnd, it would mean that there would have to be an awful lot of withdrawls from the main draw, or 3rd rnd quallie losers unavailable. That said, if Murray lost in the *3rd* round of quallies, as one of the highest ranked players in the draw, he'd have a very good chance of getting a lucky loser spot.

 

[Fee]

What happened in LA a few weeks ago was a bit of an anomaly. Two players pulled out at the same time (from the same match) on the second day of the tournament. The players who had lost in the last round of qualies had signed in for the lucky loser spot on Monday, but then left on Tuesday. Noam Okun had signed in as the possible doubles alternate, so he decided what the heck, he would put his name on the lucky loser list since he was still in town. Smart choice. He was the only one around when Mardy Fish pulled out, so he was able to play a round despite the fact that he lost in the first round of qualies.

 

[andreroddick155]

Hey fee, heres another question. would you happen to know how much it costs to enter futures, challengers, masters, international and grandslams? If you do that would be great if you could answer, cus im really interested in learning about atp tournaments. im only a teen, but when i grow up maybe i can enter some challengers or futures. Last question. Does it cost to enter a qualifing draw? If not ,and you win the qualies and get in the main draw, do you have to pay money, as if you were accepted directly?

 

[Fee]

If you're a teenager playing tennisand you are serious about playing more tennis in the future, you should already be somewhat familiar with the ins and outs of the USTA system and the ITF system. You should be playing junior tournaments by now.

Each tournament is different, so the best thing to do is look at their fact sheets. Go to www.usta.com, click on pro circuit, then calendar, then 'Fact Sheets' for each event. There's all kinds of information on there.

 

[andreroddick155]

ya i do play junior tournaments

 

[andreroddick155]

fee, in futures and challengers, qualifiers pay the same amount of money as the directly accepted players do, right? another thing. Am i right: there are no wild cards in the qualies of a future or challenger? Sorry, 1 more question. Can you enter for a wild card in the tournament and still do the challenger? Thanks

 

[andreroddick155]

Another one. HOpefully last question. There some wild card events in the many futures and challengers. Can you enter the wild card event and qualies?

 

[BigboyDan]

Each tourney is different. Anyone can enter a Futures qualifier paying the $25/30 fee at the time of sign-in (you must enter the tournament by a set date); usually the Q has 128 slots. A Challenger ($10 fee) is basically run more like an ATP event, some only allow ATP ranked players in their Qualifiers.

Some tourneys have a Wild Card Event where anyone who can afford the COST of entry to that event can play, it's a way for the tourney to raise money, some fees for Wild Card Events can cost several hundreds of dollars.

The encouragement is for new/unranked players to play in Futures tournaments. There are 27 such tournaments, sanctioned by the USTA, held across the US, alone, from January to November - go to one in your area and you will learn all that you need... also, you'll have a great time, and if you enter a tournament, you'll feel a part of the greater tennis world.

 

[andreroddick155]

thanks bigboydan, you and fee know a lot about pro stuff. How do you guys know so much?