Wimbledon, 10 June 2011 | AP

James Blake of the United States is one of three players to be given entries to the men’s draw at Wimbledon after a trio of withdrawals.

Blake, who was once ranked fourth in the world but had slipped out of the top 100, replaced Paul-Henri Mathieu after the French player pulled out on Wednesday with a knee injury.

France’s Florent Serra came in for the injured Richard Berankis and Germany’s Denis Gremelmayr replaced Thiemo de Bakker, who withdrew because of illness.

Former No.1 Dinara Safina was one of six women to pull out of the grasscourt tournament, starting on June 20.

Pauline Parmentier replaced Safina, with Vesna Dolonts, Anastasiya Yakimova, Olga Govortsova, Patricia Mayr-Achleitner and Kateryna Bondarenko also handed late entries.