The Wimbledon tournament, which takes place from July 3 to 16, has announced the first wild cards on Wednesday. He has awarded wild cards to Venus Williams, 43, a five-time tournament champion, and Elina Svitolina, who gave birth nine months ago.
The American, who is competing this week in Birmingham, became the sixth woman in the Open Era to win a match at the age of 43 or older, defeating Camila Giorgi of Italy, and will be contesting her 24th Wimbledon.
Svitolina, who gave birth to her first daughter in October, along with tennis player Gael Monfils, and, after falling out of the top 1,000 in the ranking, won the Lyon tournament in May and made the quarterfinals in Roland Garros, which has returned him to the top 100. However, she was unable to register in time for the main draw and she has needed an invitation to play the tournament.
In addition, the organization has also invited Katie Boulter, winner in Nottingham, and Jodie Burrage, finalist in the same tournament, and Harriet Dart, Katie Swan and Heather Watson. All British.
The male invitations have gone to the British Liam Broady, Jan Choinski, Arthur Fery, George Loffhagen and Ryan Peniston, as well as the Belgian David Goffin. There are still three invitations to distribute, two in the men's box and one in the women's.
