How is the scoreboard of a slam made up? And what’s different about it compared to other tournaments? Meanwhile, the number of players participating: 128, divided between the upper and lower parts. The top 104 in the ATP and WTA rankings qualify by right. In every major tournament, however, there are players who can enjoy the Protected Ranking, the rule to protect tennis players who have been out of action due to injury for a period equal to or greater than six months, thanks to which they can register on the tournament entry list by taking advantage of the average position they held in the first three months of the suspension of competitive activity. The tennis player who exercises this option will not be able to be seeded in any case but will push down those who by ranking would have the right to enter the main draw but who are instead forced to play the qualifiers.
WILD CARD
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The last 8 places are for wild cards. In the 2024 edition, all British players will be in the men’s category (Liam Brady, Jan Choinski, Jacob Fearnley, Arthur Fery, Billy Harris, Paul Jubb, Henry Searly, Charles Broom), while in the women’s category there will be former world number one Angelique Kerber (who also won Wimbledon), Naomi Osaka and Caroline Wozniacki, as well as Francesca Jones, Lily Miyazaki, Heather Watson, Emma Raducanu and Alja Tomljanovic.
THE GAMES
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In the Slams, as there are 128 players on the draw, distributed over 64 initial matches, everyone plays straight away, so there are no byes. There are 32 seeded players, with the draw establishing the quarter of the draw in which the players from 5 to 8 are placed and then the eighth of the draw in which the seeds from 9 to 16 fall, before closing with the 16 players between 17 and 32. At this point, once the structure of the scoreboard with the distribution of seedings is clear, all the others are randomly drawn.
