Queen’s defending champion Tatjana Maria called out a lack of ‘respect’ from tournament director Laura Robson after the decision was made against awarding her a wildcard for this year’s event.
The 38-year-old was crowned the Queen of Queen’s last year with her underdog victory in the final against Amanda Anisimova, watched by her two children Charlotte and Cece fron the stands.
But despite becoming the event’s maiden champion, Maria was forced to play qualifiers for a shot at the main draw, with an all-British line-up for wildcards preferred.
‘In my personal opinion, I think with all the respect, what I did last year, I was pretty sure to get a wild card, or I was hoping to get a wild card,’ Maria said after her two successful qualifying matches, admitting that she had been ‘surprised’ when the verdict came through.
‘I (won the tournament) last year, it’s not like five years ago, it was really last year what I did. To come back like a champion, I really hoped, or I thought, I will get a wildcard.’
‘I think if you are a champion of an event and you don’t get in the next year after, I think automatically this should be considered. I think this is something out of respect,’ she added.
Defending Queen’s champion Tatjana Maria was forced to play qualifying one year on from lifting the trophy in west London
Evidence of Maria’s impressive run lines the walls at the tournament as their first ever winner
While the WTA event at Queen’s Club is only in its second year, there is recent precedent for handing Maria a wildcard – the well-established men’s event at the club awarded the champion from 2017, Feliciano Lopez, a wildcard in 2019. Lopez went on to win the event that year, the first wildcard player to do so since Pete Sampras in 1999.
Maria, who is ranked 52nd in the world, stressed that she understood Robson’s decision, which saw main-draw wildcards afforded to British players Katie Boulter (world No 73), Fran Jones (world No 98), Harriet Dart (world No 160), and 17-year-old prospect Mika Stojsavljevic, but still found it ‘tough’.
Maria’s victory has been well marketed by the tournament, with a tribute to her title-claiming run last year papering the corridors en route to centre court, the Andy Murray Arena.
‘At the end of the day, I was the one out on top of (everyone),’ Maria argued. ‘I’m a mum of two kids. I was 37, I’m still on tour. I’m playing every single week.
‘It’s not that I (want to) keep a good thing (like winning, and say). “okay, I will retire.” No, I’m not retiring, and I’m back on track. And I think I deserve the wildcard.’
An LTA spokesperson said: ‘The LTA owns and invests in staging these events for the benefit of the British game as a whole – so fans can see world class international players from around the world, and support our British players, but also so British players are afforded the playing opportunities to progress their careers and climb the rankings.
‘We have seen British success at these events, and breakthrough wins, so there is clear value in giving British players these development opportunities.’
Maria will be in the main draw regardless, having beaten back-to-back opponents Lily Miyazaki and Kamila Rakhimova during Sunday’s qualifying to set up a first-round match against former top-10 player Maria Sakkari.
Aside from the benefit of playing vital live points on grass during a truncated spell on the surface, Maria was also spurred on by her and her family’s love of the tournament, which she sees as her ‘home’ tournament after her win last year granted her membership to the exclusive club.
‘Yesterday I wanted to win, also for them to stay as long as possible, because they really love to be here, and they love this tournament,’ Maria said of her two daughters.
‘You know, the response from everybody around was really huge when they knew that I didn’t get a wildcard. Even a lot of members here that came to me and they said, “we don’t understand that you didn’t get the wild card, you have to tell us (why).”
‘It was super nice from members, from players, from journalists, all around the world, I got a really positive feedback, and I was surprised about it, and I was really happy to hear that everybody said something and tried really to help me.’
