5 January 2024 | Tennis Victoria
Three Australian players – Jason Kubler, Daria Saville (VIC) and James McCabe – are among the final recipients of coveted main-draw singles wildcards for Australian Open 2024.
Saville, a former top-20 player making her way back from a serious knee injury, reached the fourth round at the Australian Open in 2016 and 2017.
Since returning to the tour in June 2023, the popular Aussie has improved her ranking from a low of world No.322 to her current position of No.209.
The 29-year-old Saville began the year with a strong opening-round win at the Brisbane International, before bowing out in three tight sets to 11th seed Anastasia Potapova.
Kubler, currently ranked world No.102 in singles, is the reigning Australian Open men’s doubles champion alongside Rinky Hijikata.
The former world No.1 junior rose to a new career-high singles ranking during 2023, peaking at world No.63.
McCabe, a 20-year-old from Sydney, will make his Grand Slam main-draw debut.
The world No.272 improved his ranking by more than 100 places in 2023 and came extremely close to upsetting former world No.3 Dominic Thiem in the opening qualifying round at Brisbane this week, pushing the AO 2020 finalist to three sets.
Saville, Kubler and McCabe join previously announced compatriots Kimberly Birrell, Olivia Gadecki, Taylah Preston, James Duckworth, Marc Polmans (VIC) and Adam Walton as wildcard recipients.
> READ: Six Aussies receive Australian Open 2024 wildcards
This bolsters the number of Aussie players in the Australian Open main draw to 18 – 13 men and five women.
Chinese rising star Shang Juncheng, who made a spectacular Grand Slam debut as a qualifier at AO 2023, is also among the wildcard recipients. The 18-year-old receives the men’s Asia-Pacific wildcard, with Japan’s Mai Hontama awarded the women’s Asia-Pacific wildcard.
French reciprocal wildcards go to AO 2022 quarterfinalist Alize Cornet and 21-year-old Arthur Cazaux, while the US wildcard recipients are Patrick Kypson and McCartney Kessler.
Former world No.1 Caroline Wozniacki, the Australian Open 2018 champion, also receives a wildcard. The mother of two returned to the tour late last year and progressed to the fourth round at the US Open.
| Australian Open 2024 Main draw wildcard recipients |
|||
| Men’s singles | Women’s singles | ||
| Player | Rank | Player | Rank |
| Jason Kubler (AUS) | 102 | Alize Cornet (FRA) | 109 |
| James Duckworth (AUS) | 116 | Kimberly Birrell (AUS) | 115 |
| Arthur Cazaux (FRA) | 130 | Mai Hontama (JPN) | 119 |
| Marc Polmans (AUS) | 150 | Olivia Gadecki (AUS) | 124 |
| Adam Walton (AUS) | 176 | Taylah Preston (AUS) | 208 |
| Juncheng Shang (CHN) | 183 | Daria Saville (AUS) | 209 |
| Patrick Kypson (USA) | 191 | McCartney Kessler (USA) | 217 |
| James McCabe (AUS) | 272 | Caroline Wozniacki (DEN) | 256 |
The Australian Open 2024 qualifying competition begins at Melbourne Park on Monday 8 January, with main-draw action hitting off on Sunday 14 January.
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