2019 Wimbledon Champion Simona Halep is not on Wimbledon wildcard list

2019 Wimbledon Champion Simona Halep's name was not on the list of wildcard players for this year's tournament published on Wednesday. There is still one wildcard yet to be given, but hopes are slim that it will go to Halep. There are conflicting reports that indicate she may not have even requested a wildcard because of a knee issue she is dealing with.

The French Open denied Halep a wildcard based on the tournament's position of not offering them to players coming back from doping allegations. As a precedent, the French Open did not give Maria Sharapova a wildcard when she returned after a doping suspension in 2017.

Wimbledon did not have a similar policy and indicated that the tournament took wildcard requests on a case-by-case basis. Wildcards have been a heated topic in the past year because they are subjectively distributed by each tournament's director. Wimbledon followed the precedent of giving wildcards to players from the home country with the exception of women's singles where the tournament extended the wildcards to four Grand Slam champions.

If Simona Halep did not get one, who received Wimbledon wildcards?

2021 US Open Champion Emma Raducanu, 2018 Australian Open Champion Caroline Wozniacki, three-time Grand Slam Champion (including 2018 Wimbledon Champion) Angelique Kerber, and four-time Grand Slam Champion Naomi Osaka received wildcards.

Simona Halep has not played much on the WTA stage since returning from suspension this spring. Over the weekend, she played an exhibition with former Romanian tennis player Andrei Pavel against Steffi Graf and Andre Agassi.

Though her doping suspension was reduced after a successful but lengthy appeal, she has not received a warm welcome back to tennis except for at the Miami Open where she received a wildcard. Halep was criticized by Caroline Wozniacki earlier in the year for requesting wildcards given her circumstances.

Halep's career has already suffered, and with her legal issues in the past, it would be nice to see her back in the game, especially during the grasscourt season. Her 2019 Wimbledon win over Serena Williams was one of the best matches of her career.

Read more on Lob and Smash