8 Jun 2010

Kiefer and Nishikori given Wimbledon Wildcards

9:56 am on 8 June 2010

Germany's Nicolas Kiefer and Kei Nishikori of Japan have been handed wildcards to the Wimbledon Tennis Championships.

They will be joined in the tournament by British number three Jamie Baker and Russian duo Teimuraz Gabashvili and 2009 Wimbledon junior champion Andrey Kuznetsov.

Kiefer, a quarter-finalist in the grand slam event in 1997, is ranked 181st in the world while Nishikori is 201st.

There was no place for British number two Alex Bogdanovic, ranked 166th in the world, who has received eight previous wildcards for the tournament without going past the first round.

In the women's singles, British quartet Katie O'Brien, Melanie South, the U.S. Open girls champion Heather Watson and 2008 Wimbledon girls champion Laura Robson received wildcards.

Three places in the men's singles and four places in the women's are still to be announced for the event beginning on June the 21st.