Wimbledon: Lois Boisson has not received an invitation and will have to go through qualifying

Back on earth. Despite her historic and heroic performance at Roland Garros, Loïs Boisson will have to fight to make it into the main draw at Wimbledon. The Frenchwoman was not granted an invitation by the organizers of the London Grand Slam (which will take place from June 30 to July 13) and will therefore have to go through qualifying, they announced on Wednesday, June 18.

A surprise semi-finalist at the Porte d'Auteuil , the Frenchwoman jumped up the WTA rankings ( from 361st to 65th place ). Her new status should have allowed her to enter the main draw of Wimbledon (composed of 128 players), but the tournament has its own rules and had finalized the list of participants just before Roland-Garros. Loïs Boisson was therefore not ranked high enough at the time to be included.

The Dijon native was therefore banking on one of the eight invitations the tournament gives out each year to enter the main draw. The All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC), organizer of the third Grand Slam of the season, has chosen to award seven of its eight precious "wild cards" to British players. The only foreign beneficiary of an invitation is Czech Petra Kvitova (former world No. 2, now ranked 572nd), a two-time winner of the prestigious London grass-court tournament (2011 and 2014).

Loïs Boisson will therefore have to go through qualifying, which begins on June 23. The task will not be easy for the 22-year-old player, who will have to win three matches to play in her first career Wimbledon. This challenge is all the greater given that she has never played on grass. After a long week of rest, Loïs Boisson has posted videos on her Instagram account in recent days showing her hitting the ball on this surface, which she is new to. Acclimatization will have to happen quickly.