Retiring Cornet leads Roland Garros wild cards

Alizé Cornet will bid her final farewell to tennis in front of her home fans at Roland Garros this month. The former World No.11, who has announced that she will retire following the tournament, leads the list of eight main draw wild cards.

The Frenchwoman will extend her Open Era record of consecutive Grand Slam main-draw appearances to 69, seven ahead of second-placed Ai Sugiyama's 62. Cornet played her first Grand Slam as a 15-year-old wild card at Roland Garros 2005, reaching the second round; she has not missed a major main draw since the 2007 Australian Open.

The 34-year-old, who owns 25 career Top 10 wins, reached her first and so far only Grand Slam quarterfinal at the 2022 Australian Open. Her best Roland Garros showings to date are fourth-round runs in 2015 and 2017.

Cornet will be joined by five compatriots. No.155-ranked Jessika Ponchet came second in the Destination Roland Garros race, which takes into account points earned by French players in a selection of WTA and ITF tournaments this year; the 27-year-old received the wild card after first-placed Lois Boisson suffered an injury in the first round of the Paris WTA 125 event this week.

Former No.10 Kristina Mladenovic, former No.39 Fiona Ferro, 2020 junior champion Elsa Jacquemot and Saint-Malo 125 runner-up Chloe Paquet round out the home contingent. They are joined by two former Top 100 players, Sachia Vickery and Ajla Tomljanovic, in reciprocal arrangements with the USTA and Tennis Australia respectively.

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Teenagers account for five of the nine qualifying wild cards, which have all been awarded to French players: Daphnée Mpetshi Perricard, 15; Sarah Iliev, 17; Tiantsoa Rakotomanga Rajaonah, 18; Astrid Lew Yan Foon, 18; and Jenny Lim, 19. Rakotomanga Rajaonah and Lim are both ITF titlists this year, while Iliev made her tour-level debut by qualifying for Strasbourg in 2023.

The four remaining qualifying wild cards have been awarded to Selena Janicijevic, Manon Leonard, Margaux Rouvroy and Alice Tubello. Rouvroy, 23, scored a memorable win over Sofia Kenin in last year's qualifying event; Tubello, 23, has won 22 of her last 24 matches, including three ITF titles; and former Top 20 junior Janicijevic, 21, has reached two ITF W5 finals this season.

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Since the initial Roland Garros main draw list was released four weeks ago, only one player, Yanina Wickmayer, has withdrawn. The No.91-ranked Belgian announced two weeks ago that she had decided to "take a break and step away long enough for my body to heal and strengthen again."

Wickmayer's withdrawal moved Erika Andreeva into the main draw. The next six alternates, in order, are Renata Zarazua, Sara Errani, Arina Rodionova, Emma Raducanu, Brenda Fruhvirtova and Cornet.

There have been eight withdrawals from the qualifying draw since its initial release two weeks ago: the six main draw wild cards who were originally within the cut, Andreeva on her move into the main draw, and Kaja Juvan, who has not competed since the Australian Open.

The eight players who have now moved into the qualifying draw are You Xiaodi, Dejana Radanovic, Harmony Tan, Nikola Bartunkova, Kaia Kanepi, Cristina Dinu and Nigina Abduraimova.

The next six qualifying alternates, in order, are Carol Zhao, Irene Burillo Escorihuela, Mona Barthel, Despina Papamichail, Andreea Mitu and Sara Saito.

Roland Garros qualifying begins on 20 May and main-draw action starts on May 26.