French Open organizers give wild cards to veterans Paire and Mladenovic
France's Benoit Paire takes a picture with his phone of a mark left by a ball he shot on the line as he argues with the umpire during his match with Italy's Stefano Travaglia at the Italian Open tennis tournament, in Rome, Monday, May 10, 2021. There won’t be any more arguing with line judges over calls at any tennis tournaments on the ATP men’s tour as of 2025 — because there won’t be any more line judges at any of those events by then. The London-based ATP announced Friday, April 28, 2023, that it will use Electronic Line Calling Live — known as ELC Live — for all “Out” calls in all matches beginning two years from now. Credit: AP/Gregorio Borgia
PARIS — Veteran French players Benoit Paire and Kristina Mladenovic were handed wild cards into the main draw of the French Open on Monday.
They were among the six French men's and six French women's wild cards attributed by the French Tennis Federation for the Grand Slam at Roland Garros starting on May 28.
The 34-year-old Paire's best performance at the tournament in western Paris was reaching the fourth round in 2019.
The FFT said 18-year-old Arthur Fils, 19-year-old Giovanni Mpetshi-Perricard, 20-year-old Arthur Cazaux, Hugo Gaston and Hugo Grenier were also invited to play in the men's draw.
The 30-year-old Mladenovic reached the quarterfinals in 2017. Later that year, she achieved her best ranking of 10th.
Mladenovic was joined in the women’s draw by Clara Burel, Séléna Janicijevic, Léolia JeanJean, Diane Parry and Jessika Ponchet.
Other wild cards from the agreement between the FFT and the Australian and American tennis federations will be announced at a later date. The USTA, Tennis Australia and the FFT offer reciprocal wild-card invitations for each other’s Grand Slam events.
Kristina Mladenovic of France returns a shot to Park So-hyun of South Korea during their first-round match of the Korea Open tennis championships in Seoul, South Korea, on Sept. 20, 2022. Veteran French players Benoit Paire and Kristina Mladenovic have been handed wild cards to play in the main draw at the French Open, organizers said Monday, May 15, 2023. Credit: AP/Ahn Young-joon
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