10 Jun 2009

15-year-old gets Wimbledon wildcard

12:37 pm on 10 June 2009

Britain's 15-year-old junior Wimbledon tennis champion Laura Robson will be the youngest player to appear in the senior event since Martina Hingis in 1995 after being handed a wildcard.

Robson is ranked 482nd in the world, well below the Lawn Tennis Association's wild card cut-off point of 250th, but was given a slot via a clause that allows juniors in under "exceptional circumstances" - namely her win in the junior event and her number one ranking.

In the men's draw, former French Open champion Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain was handed a wildcard to the year's third grand slam along with Britons Alex Bogdanovic, Daniel Evans, Josh Goodall and James Ward, and Bulgarian teenager Grigor Dimitrov.

The tournament begins on June 22nd.