Emma Raducanu: Out of the top 100? Wimbledon wild card? What’s at stake for British star at Madrid Open

There’s plenty on the line at the Madrid Open this week for Emma Raducanu as she faces the prospect of dropping outside the top 100 in the world rankings – something that could leave her needing a wild card to play at Wimbledon.

She is currently projected to drop to No. 101 after Madrid, where she made the third round last year.

Because the tournament has increased in size this season, Raducanu must now reach the fourth round to defend her 120 points.

Raducanu opens against a qualifier and if the 20-year-old wins that match she will face a sizable task to progress further as she will meet world No. 1 Iga Swiatek in the second round.

Even a surprise win over Swiatek might not be enough to guarantee Raducanu stays in the top 100, depending how other players around her fare at the tournament.

Why is staying in the top 100 significant?

Aside from just being a milestone number, it is around that mark that the cut-off for direct entries for Grand Slams happens.

The women’s singles draw at Wimbledon has 108 direct entries, which in theory means the top 108-ranked women at the cut-off date qualify for the tournament. In practice it is not usually the top 108 in the world who make it to the draw as there are also players who use protected rankings to enter, and injury absences.

The 108 players who do qualify directly are then joined in the draw by qualifiers and wild cards.

The cut-off date for direct entry for Wimbledon this year comes after the Italian Open finishes on May 22.

If Raducanu is outside the direct entry ranking point at that time then she would either need to go through qualifying at Wimbledon or get a wild card.

A wild card would surely be granted, just as it was when Raducanu first played the tournament in 2021 and made the fourth round. But to be outside the direct-entry positions for her home Grand Slam would represent a significant fall for Raducanu after she reached No. 10 in the world last year.

Raducanu has secured direct entry for the French Open, which starts on May 28, as she was well within the required ranking mark at the cut-off point. After the Madrid Open she seems likely to play the Italian Open, where she retired in the first round last year due to injury, so only has 10 points to defend. Then up next will be the French Open, where Raducanu made the second round on her debut last year.

Raducanu is looking to avoid a fourth defeat in a row when she opens in Madrid.

The British No. 1 showed encouraging signs at Indian Wells in March as she beat 20th seed Magda Linette and 13th seed Beatriz Haddad Maia on her way to reaching the fourth round. She also pushed fellow former US Open champion Bianca Andreescu close in the first round of the Miami Open.

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