Roland-Garros unveils its wild-cards, Thiem absent from the list

The second Grand Slam is fast approaching. The tournament kicks off on May 26, with qualifying set to begin on Monday the 20th. On Tuesday, the tournament made a long-awaited announcement, with the publication of its guest list of men and women.

On the men's side, they are Alexandre Muller, Richard Gasquet, Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard, Harold Mayot, Terence Atmane and Pierre-Hugues Herbert. Adam Walton and Nicolas Moreno de Alboran have also been added to the list (invitations resulting from an agreement between the Australian, American and French federations).

On the women's side, Alizé Cornet, Fiona Ferro, Elsa Jacquemot, Kristina Mladenovic, Chloé Paquet and Jessika Ponchet received invitations. In terms of convention invitations, Ajla Tomljanovic and Sachia Vickery were chosen.

Two major absentees appear. Firstly, Diego Schwartzman (142nd this week), semi-finalist in 2020, who will end his career in February 2025, will not benefit from an invitation. If he wants to play in the draw one last time, he'll have to go through the qualifying rounds.

Worst of all, Dominic Thiem, 5-time quarter-finalist, 4-time semi-finalist and 2-time finalist in Paris, has not been granted a wild-card. For a player who, for many years, was widely regarded as the world's second-ranked player on the surface, after Rafael Nadal, this is a shocking choice. Now that 'Domi' has announced his retirement at the end of the season, the Austrian undoubtedly deserved far more attention from the tournament and the federation.

We can only hope that he makes it out of the qualifying rounds, or that there are enough forfeits to get him into the final draw despite everything (6th alternate).

Be that as it may, the question remains: is this choice justified, or is it a clear lack of respect for Thiem's career?