The first six wildcards have been confirmed for next years Australian Open, with four Australian women and two Australian men being granted entry into the main draw of the first grand slam in 2021, as per Marc McGowan (Herald Sun).
Daria Gavrilova, Lizette Cabrera, Astra Sharma and Maddison Inglis have been awarded wildcards into the women’s singles draw.
Daria Gavrilova will return to the Melbourne Park courts after missing last years tournament with injury. The former world no.20 has made the final 16 twice at Melbourne Park and will be hoping to replicate that form in 2021.
It will be a third consecutive Australian Open for world no.129 Astra Sharma, who will be pushing to get herself back inside the top 100 in 2021. World no.140 Lizette Cabrera will feature in her fourth Australian Open main draw, bidding for her first victory at the slam.
It will be five years between drinks for 22 year old Maddison Inglis, who will feature in just her second Australian Open main draw, her first coming in 2016. Ranked at 130, Inglis will be hoping for her maiden grand slam main draw victory.
On the men’s side, Christopher O’Connell and Marc Polmans are the first two main draw wildcard recipients.
O’Connell, ranked at 120 will feature in his third Australian Open main draw and will be hoping for his first victory after pushing Andrey Rublev to four sets in last years opening round.
Fellow Aussie Marc Polmans has also received a wildcard and will be hoping to replicate his form from last years tournament, where he made the second round.
There are still ten wildcards to be handed out for the tournament. Four on the women’s side and six on the men’s.