Wild cards Raducanu, Osaka among six Slam champions in Queen's Club field
The HSBC Championships at Queen's Club in London, England will make its inaugural appearance on the Hologic WTA Tour this year, kicking off the grass-court swing as 2025's first WTA 500 event on the surface.
A long-time mainstay of the men's calendar on the ATP Tour, the women will join the party at Queen's for the first time. The main-draw entries and initial wild cards, which came out this week, are befitting of the auspicious occasion.
A total of six Grand Slam champions are already scheduled to hit the grass at Queen's. Two of them received wild cards into the main draw: four-time major champion Naomi Osaka and Emma Raducanu. Raducanu became the most recent Briton to win a Grand Slam title when she claimed the 2021 US Open title as a qualifier.
Four more Grand Slam champions are in via direct entry: Reigning Australian Open champion Madison Keys, reigning Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova, and former Wimbledon champions Elena Rybakina and Petra Kvitova. Kvitova is entered via special ranking as she continues her return from maternity leave.
Four of the world's Top 10 players will be in the main draw, with World No. 4 Jessica Pegula leading the direct-entry list. The other Top 10 players entered are No. 6 Keys, No. 8 Zheng Qinwen and No. 9 Emma Navarro.
Among the other notable names on the main-draw entry list are Grand Slam finalists Karolina Muchova and Leylah Fernandez. Also entered is Beatriz Haddad Maia, whose first two WTA titles came back-to-back on grass in the U.K. in 2022.
British No. 1 Katie Boulter joins Osaka and Raducanu as a wild-card recipient. Like Haddad Maia, two of Boulter's WTA titles have come on grass in Britain.
The last main-draw direct entry is No. 29 Yulia Putintseva. Former Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin (No. 31) is the first main-draw alternate, meaning the field could potentially contain at least seven Grand Slam champions when play gets underway.
With tournament director Laura Robson overseeing the event launch, main-draw play at Queen's Club will kick off on Monday, June 9.
