World No.106 Alex de Minaur has been selected by Tennis Australia to receive a wildcard for the upcoming French Open.
The 19-year-old was granted the pass thanks to the reciprocal wildcard agreement. An agreement between three of the four grand slam nations (excluding Great Britain) where national tennis federations can hand their players a wildcard into the main draw.
De Minaur’s selection comes as no surprise following his rise on the tour this season. In January he reached the semifinals of the Brisbane International followed by his first ever tour final in Sydney. He was denied the title by Russia’s Daniil Medvedev, who prevailed in three sets. Since then, he also reached the final of a Challenger tournament in Alicante, Spain. To date, he has achieved six wins over top 50 players.
“Alex has put in some quality performances over the past six months and it’s a great effort to be only a handful of places out of main draw on ranking at the young age of 19,” Australian Davis Cup captain Lleyton Hewitt told tennis.com.au.
“He’s already reached an ATP World Tour final this year and this wildcard gives him another opportunity to gain experience against the best players in the world.”
It is the second consecutive year where the Next Gen star has been granted a wildcard to play at Roland Garros. In 2017 he took on Robin Haase in the first round, but only managed to win six games in the match.
De Minaur has only won one main draw match in a grand slam tournament so far in his career. At last year’s Australian Open he defeated Gerald Melzer in five sets before falling to Sam Querrey. As a junior, he was a finalist in the 2016 Wimbledon boy’s competition, losing to Denis Shapovalov.
There will be at least five Australians in the main draw of the men’s tournament in Paris. Set to join De Minaur will be Nick Kyrgios, John Millman, Matthew Ebden and Jordan Thompson
The Australian women’s wildcard will be decided by a knock-out tournament. Seven players will play in a special tournament held on the grounds at Roland Garros this weekend. The tournament will be overseen by Fed Cup captain Alicia Molik.
Ashleigh Barty, Daria Gavrilova, Samantha Stosur and Ajla Tomljanovic have already secured their places in the women’s draw.
