2016 Australian Open – Main Draw Wildcard Entries
| 2016 Australian Open – Main Draw Wildcard Entries | |
|---|---|
| Date | October 2015 – January 2016 |
| Edition | 104th |
| Category | Grand Slam (ITF) |
| Location |
United States (6 places across the country) Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, China Melbourne, Victoria, Australia |
The 2016 Australian Open Wildcard Playoffs and Entries was a group of events and internal selections to choose the eight men and eight women singles wildcard entries for the 2016 Australian Open, as well as seven male and seven female doubles teams plus eight mixed doubles teams.
One wildcard each was given to the winners of the Australian Open Wildcard Playoff, a tournament between Australian players who did not receive direct entry into the draw. This took place from 14 to 20 December 2015.
In an agreement with the United States Tennis Association and the French Tennis Federation, Tennis Australia gives one man and one woman from the United States and France each a wildcard into the Australian Open. The French players were chosen by internal selection, while USTA awarded the entry to the player with the most points over three pre-selected events in USA over October and November 2015.
Since the Australian Open is promoted as the "Grand Slam of Asia/Pacific", one male and one female player from this geographical area were awarded a wildcard. This was decided through the Asia-Pacific Australian Open Wildcard Playoff. At the same event, one male and one female doubles team won wildcards, and one wildcard each was contested in boys and girls singles. This took pace from 2 to 6 December 2015.
Remaining wildcards were awarded by internal Australian selection.
For the first time, a new initiative was put in place for rewarding women's wildcards. A wildcard race was put in place by Tennis Australia to offer the highest Australian points earner from the 2015 Canberra Tennis International and 2015 Bendigo Women's International a main draw wildcard. The singles wildcard was won by Tammi Patterson and the doubles wildcard was won by Jessica Moore and Storm Sanders. Also for the first time, the winner of the girls' 18 and under national championships was rewarded a main draw wildcard.
The Asia-Pacific Wildcard Playoff events took place in Shenzhen, Guangdong, China from Monday, November 30 to Sunday, December 6, 2015. A total of 26 male and 30 female players from Asia/Pacific zone took part in singles events (including qualifying competitions), with Yoshihito Nishioka from Japan and Han Xinyun from China gaining the Australian Open entry. Both doubles events consisted of 18 male and 19 female teams, with Hsieh Cheng-peng & Yang Tsung-hua and Shuko Aoyama & Makoto Ninomiya winning the wild cards. Junior playoff events were also held, and Chinese players Mu Tao and Wang Xiyu won the wild card entries into the Boys' and Girls' main events, respectively.
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