Andre Agassi's former coach Brad Gilbert questions distribution of wildcards between ATP and WTA draws for Indian Wells 2023
The wildcards for the men's and women's draws of the 2023 Indian Wells tournament have been announced. Five wildcards have been handed to men's players and eight to the women, with Dominic Thiem and Sofia Kenin headlining the respective lists.
But leading tennis coach and analyst Brad Gilbert has questioned the unequal distribution of wildcards between the ATP and WTA draws for Indian Wells.
"Wonder why not same amount of WC’s for @atptour @WTA," Gilbert wrote on Twitter.
why not same amount of WC’s for @atptour @WTA@jon_wertheim @BNPPARIBASOPEN wonder 💭 why not same amount of WC’s for @atptour @WTA
On the men's side, 2019 champion Thiem will be accompanied by three-time doubles champion and former singles world No. 8 Jack Sock on the list of wildcards. Yibing Wu, who became the first Chinese player to win an ATP title in Dallas last month, along with fellow rising stars Brandon Holt and Alex Kovacevic, complete the men's main draw wildcard list.
On the women's side, Ukraine's Dayana Yastremska will join former world No. 4 Kenin as a wildcard entry. Accompanying them are six American players, headlined by Caty McNally, Ann Li, and Katie Volynets. Their countrywomen Emma Navarro, Peyton Stearns, and Elizabeth Mandlik complete the women's main draw wildcard list.
Meanwhile, Tennys Sandgren and Caroline Dolehide headline the singles qualifying wildcards.
While no strong reason has been given to explain the difference in the number of wilcards that were granted to the men's and women's draws, wildcard distribution is usually done at the tournament organizers' discretion based on some factors. Most wildcards are often reserved for players representing the country in which the tournament is being held, and tournaments can determine the distribution between men's and women's draws based on players they deem worthy of a wildcard based on past records and other factors.
When is the Indian Wells 2023 draw ceremony? Will Novak Djokovic compete at the California Masters event?
The draw ceremony for both the men's and women's draws for 2023 Indian Wells will be held on Monday, March 6 at 3:00 pm local time. Taylor Fritz is the defending men's singles champion and WTA world No. 1 Iga Swiatek is the defending women's singles champion.
As the tournament draws closer, there is growing suspense surrounding Novak Djokovic's participation. The Serb has applied for an exemption from the vaccine mandate that is still in place in the United States, and is waiting to hear on that.
Djokovic has received public support from the tournament organizers of both the US Open and the Miami Open, the latter of which will be held soon after Indian Wells. The Serb himself recently declared that he would withdraw from the tournament before the draw was made if he did not receive positive news about his exemption application by then.