Stan Wawrinka left out as five wildcards awarded for Madrid Masters

Stan Wawrinka will need to go through qualifying if he wants to play in the Madrid Open main draw this year.

Wawrinka is set to retire from tennis this season, ending a 24-year career on the ATP Tour.

He’s been given wildcards into five events during his farewell season, with the most recent one coming at the Monte Carlo Masters.

But Madrid has chosen not to offer him one, handing their five spots out to other players instead.

Stan Wawrinka faces qualifying route to Madrid Open after wildcards announced

The Madrid Open has ties to IMG, which owned the tournament until last year before selling it to MARI, a company that represents many players on tour.

Because of this, the Madrid Open often hands out wildcards to IMG-affiliated players rather than focusing solely on local talent.

This year’s men’s singles wildcards have gone to Pablo Carreno Busta, Federico Cina, Rafael Jodar, Martin Landaluce and Gael Monfils. Monfils is also in his final season before retirement.

Wawrinka is entered into the Madrid Open but will have to come through qualifying as he’s 16th on the alternate list. However, there’s a chance he might not play at all after hinting at a possible skip following his exit from Monte Carlo.

On the women’s side, only two Spanish players received wildcards: Paula Badosa and Carlota Martinez Cirez.

The remaining spots went to Venus Williams, Ajla Tomljanovic, Ashlyn Krueger, Emiliana Arango, Victoria Jimenez Kasintseva and Robin Montgomery.

Stan Wawrinka’s best run at the Madrid Open

Wawrinka has never lifted the trophy in Madrid, but he’s had some solid runs there over the years.

The former world No. 3 has played in the tournament 13 times, with his standout performance coming in 2013 when he made it all the way to the final before losing to Rafael Nadal.

But he hasn’t played a match at the event since 2023 when he exited in the second round.

He skipped wildcards for Indian Wells and Miami this year due to travel, and it’s not clear whether he actually asked for one in Madrid.

What we do know is that his next stop will be Barcelona, where he’s been given a wildcard into the ATP 500 event.

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