Veterans headline Wimbledon wildcards

Dreadlocked German Dustin Brown will have the chance to follow up last year’s Wimbledon heroics after being handed a wildcard for the 2016 championships.

Brown, ranked 87th in the world, provided the shock of the tournament 12 months ago when he came through qualifying before overwhelming two-time champion Rafael Nadal in the second round with a scintillating display of attacking tennis.

#TheFeelingWhen U Receive A WC 2 Ur Fav #GrandSlam… #ThxVeryMuch???????? @Wimbledon… pic.twitter.com/enjT0LtaCE

— Dustin Brown (@DreddyTennis) June 15, 2016

Czech veteran Radek Stepanek, 37, has also been handed one of the Wimbledon wildcards.

The former world No.4 – now ranked 117 – came within two points of knocking eventual finalist Andy Murray out of the French Open in the first round.

Organisers on Wednesday also gave wildcard entries to British players Liam Broady, Alex Ward and James Ward.

Slovakia’s former top-10 player Daniela Hantuchova and Britain’s ex-junior champion Laura Robson received wildcards into the women’s main draw.

Wildcards also went to Marina Melnikova of Russia, and British players Tara Moore and Katie Swan.

Thankyou to the ELTC and @Wimbledon committee for the main draw wildcard #wimbeldon ???????? so pumped

— Tara Moore (@TaraMoore92) June 15, 2016

Hantuchova reached the Wimbledon quarterfinals in 2002 but has fallen to No.163 in the rankings.

Australia’s Ashleigh Barty, on the comeback from a brief hiatus to play professional cricket, received a singles qualifying wildcard and main draw doubles wildcard with Robson.

Who's excited ???????????????? @laurarobson5 @Wimbledon #2.0

— Ash Barty (@ashbar96) June 15, 2016

Wimbledon begins on June 27.