Wildcards are one of the most sought after items on a tennis player’s wish list at some point in his/her career.  For promising juniors, wildcards provide a chance to play in the big leagues before a player has played enough tournaments and won enough matches to gain automatic entry into the draw.  For seasoned tour veterans, wildcards offer a second chance to jumpstart a career after a long layoff from a serious injury.  For top tennis stars, wildcards provide the opportunity to gain last-minute entry into an event when a player wants some additional match play etc.  So who decides who receives these precious free passes into the tournament draw?  It depends on the tournament.  Nowadays, the Grand Slams have preset rules governing some of their wildcards, e.g. the U.S. Open has reciprocity with the Australian Open and they trade one wildcard.  In certain situations, a top player’s tournament commitments affect the player’s ability to obtain a wildcard.  But the actual selection of the wildcards seems to be a very hazy process and quite subjective.  The decision-makers are usually the tournament directors, tournament committees, tour executives, etc. and oftentimes the marketability of the player has an impact on the final decision.  Should the rules for such important “cards” be objective and public?