sport news MATCH POINT: Wildcard stitch ups are par for the course... here's how the ... trends now
Those switching their attention to the Open golf next week may get to hear the name of Matthew Jordan, one of the 156 players who will tee off at Royal Liverpool.
After more discussions about the merits of wildcards at Wimbledon, he is an interesting comparison of how they do things in the partially equivalent event of another sport.
Jordan plays on the European Tour and has had a ranking in the top 200 before now, and this season he has had four top twenty finishes. He grew up playing at Hoylake, is well-known in the area and holds the course record. He knows every blade of grass on the links and ought to go well.
He would have had a cast-iron case for a wildcard if such a thing existed for the Open, but they do not. Failing to get direct entry, he had to go through two extremely competitive qualifying rounds at West Lancs and, happily, was one of the tiny few who just made it into the main field.
Given his history, it would have been something of a travesty if he did not feature next week, so it is worth bearing that in mind when considering the rights and wrongs of privileged entries. They can enhance a tournament in commercial terms, add appeal in the local market and give a deserving individual a hand up.
Matthew Jordan's case suggests that some events in golf don't have enough wildcards
It is, however, a question of degree, and while the restrictions on the Open (which has a very complex entry system) look too strict, it can equally be argued that there are too many wildcards in tennis.
Their distribution is always a vexed issue, especially so at the Grand Slams because they are worth so much (£55,000 minimum in singles this fortnight). At Wimbledon the situation is not helped by their award being in something of a grey area. The All England Club has the final say, but there are heavy representations from the LTA.
British players have received 41 wildcards for main draw singles across recent grass court events, and it can be argued that a lot of them were justified. The clear danger - and it probably applies to a few players - is that sub-consciously they go through the year knowing that they will cash in every summer this way, and it shaves a mental edge off them.
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The most commonly cited example of wildcard excess is ex-British player Alex Bogdanovic, who was given eight for Wimbledon's main draw and never won a match (fun fact: he faced both Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal in first rounds). It might surprise some people to know that the all-time king of wildcards is Andy Murray, who has had 57 over his career.
That number has provoked slight controversy, but he has had good reason because of his hip injuries, and what he has given back to the game can hardly be questioned.
Alex Bogdanovic was given eight wildcards at Wimbledon but he never won a match
Other areas of the wildcard business deserve more scrutiny. One is the indefensible stitch-up between Grand Slam nations France, America and Australia of giving a reciprocal wildcard to each other's players, something that Wimbledon and the LTA have done well to stay out of. Surely a better use would be to give one to an under-represented continent like Africa, for instance. There is parallel for this in what the International Tennis Federation does at the Olympics.
Then there are big management groups such as IMG, who are allowed to be tournament
