Australian tennis young gun Thanasi Kokkinakis has been handed a wildcard entry to London’s Queen’s Club Championships.
The 19-year-old’s opportunity follows an abdominal injury to British number three Kyle Edmund, forcing his withdrawal from the annual Wimbledon warm-up.
Edmund, 20, sustained the problem during the French Open, pulling out ahead of his second-round match against another Australian, Nick Kyrgios, at Roland Garros.
“Kyle desperately wanted to play and we were looking forward to seeing him but he hasn’t quite returned to full fitness in time,” tournament director Stephen Farrow said on Saturday.
“At the same time, Thanasi has posted some impressive results this year, he’s an exciting prospect and this is a great opportunity to show what he can do.”
Kokkinakis joins a line-up which contains eight of the world’s top – Andy Murray, Rafael Nadal, Stan Wawrinka, Milos Raonic, Grigor Dimitrov, Marin Cilic, Gilles Simon and Feliciano Lopez.
Kyrgios, Lleyton Hewitt and big-serving American John Isner will also take part.