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Roberto Bautista Agut criticised the wildcard system at the Madrid Open.
By Yasmin Syed
Roberto Bautista Agut wasn't happy with the wildcard system in Madrid (Image: Getty)
Roberto Bautista Agut ripped into the Madrid Open after being snubbed for a wildcard. The former world No. 9 is still climbing back up the rankings after being sidelined by injuries last year and expected to get a pass into the main draw as a home player. After getting in as a lucky loser, the Spaniard claimed that the tournament owners were “looking after their own interests”.
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Bautista Agut made the most of his last-minute spot in the Madrid Open as he beat Daniel Galan in the first round on Thursday. The world No. 86 lost his second-round qualifying match but managed to get into the main draw as a lucky loser following withdrawals.
Although he still ended up with a spot in the tournament, the Spaniard wasn’t happy that he was made to grind it out in qualifying instead of receiving a wildcard and ripped into IMG - the company that owns the tournament - for favouring the players on their roster.
“I had to play the qualifying, that's all. The truth is that I expected to have an invitation,” the former top-10 player said after his first-round win. “But hey, I have always been in a privileged position, listening to my colleagues complaining.”
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Roberto Bautista Agut got into the main draw as a lucky loser (Image: Getty)
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IMG is one of the most popular talent agencies among tennis players and they awarded main draw wildcards to their clients Darwin Blanch, Joao Fonseca, Shang Jungcheng, Zizou Bergs and Martin Landaluce. And Bautista Agut claimed that Spanish players also deserved a free pass into the tournament.
The 11-time career title winner continued: “I understand that the tournament is owned by IMG and favours its clients, I understand that they look after their own interests, but I do not agree that this tournament has huge amounts of money from sponsors and Spanish institutions and that this is of no use.
“That doesn't happen anywhere in the world, in any country, in any of the tournaments I play in, where we see something like that. This only happens here.” Qualifying draws are relatively new territory for Bautista Agut, whose ranking dropped when he spent several months on the sidelines last year.
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Roberto Bautista Agut's ranking dropped when he got injured in a horseriding accident (Image: Getty)
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The Spaniard was out from July to October after sustaining an injury in a horseriding accident and he is still trying to adjust to life outside of the world’s top 80. He added: “It took me a little while to accept it.
“Just before the accident I was No. 25 in the world and suddenly, six months later, due to misfortune, I am No. 90 in the world. It's a good slap in the face, a stick that has to be digested, you have to accept it, but now I'm in another stage.”
Bautista Agut dropped out of the top 100 in January but he has already started climbing back up the rankings. He will now face 16th seed Karen Khachanov, the man who knocked him out of the Madrid Open 12 months ago.
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