WILD CARDS

Each tournament is allowed [by the ATP] to hand out invitations to players who would not have been able to enter the tournament on the basis of their ranking.
Miami has a draw of 128 players for the men and has given about 12 wild cards out to both veterans and the stars of tomorrow
In the men’s main draw, the five wild-card recipients include rising American stars Sam Querrey, Alex Kuznetsov and former Florida Gator Ryan Sweeting.

Querrey had a terrific 2006 campaign winning three challenger events. He jumped more than 600 ranking positions from the previous season to become the fourth-youngest player in the year-end Top 150. He is off to a solid start in 2007 reaching the third round of the Australian Open defeating the 27th seed José Acasuso in the first round. He’s has also reached the quarterfinals of two events this season (Memphis,Las Vegas).
Also receiving wild cards are a pair of former Grand Slam champions. Fan favorite and three-time French Open Champion Gustavo Kuerten returns as well as Thomas Johannson, the former seventh-ranked player in the world, who is looking to regain the form that brought him the 2002 Australian Open title. Johannson has been recovering from an eye injury suffered in 2006.

Wildcards for the men’s qualifying draw were awarded to Brendan Evans, Donald Young, 2006 Luxilon Cup champion Pavel Checkhov and 2006 Junior Orange Bowl winner Alex Luncanu.

The 20-year-old Evans, who lives and trains in Key Biscayne, Fla., was one of the top junior players in the country for several years. He teamed with Scott Oudsema to win three junior Grand Slam doubles titles in 2004 including the Australian Open, Wimbledon and US Open. He was also among the world’s top junior singles players, reaching the French and Italian Open semifinals and the Australian Open and Wimbledon quarterfinals.