Naomi Osaka and Andy Murray at centre of $10 million tennis furore

Naomi Osaka and Andy Murray have been caught in the controversy surrounding wildcards for the Madrid Open after organisers were slammed for not awarding more to Spanish players.

Madrid Open organisers announced their wildcard selections this week, giving them to male players Murray, Carlos Gimeno, Lucas Pouille and Jack Draper, as well as women's players Osaka, Linda Fruhvirtova, Monica Puig, Marta Kostyuk and Qinwen Zheng.

'VICTORY FOR RUSSIA': Staggering new details about Wimbledon ban

'NEEDS TO STOP': Tennis fans fume over Stefanos Tsitsipas act

Among the nine selections, only Gimeno is from Spain.

Tournaments will traditionally award the majority of their wildcards to young players from the host country, or former champions on the comeback trail.

The Madrid Open has always followed suit, handing main draw wildcards to young Spanish players.

However the Masters 1000 event was recently sold to IMG, with the majority of the 2022 wild card recipients under the company's management.

Murray and Gimeno, a 20-year-old Spanish prodigy, are the only players that aren't IMG players.

Spanish veteran Fernando Verdasco criticised the wildcard selections for the $10 million event on social media.

"Following today's announcement by the Mutua Madrid Open of the wildcards they are going to award for this year's event, many Spanish players cannot help but give our opinion," Verdasco said in a statement also attributed to Carlos Taberner (World No.94) and Pablo Andujar (World No.79).

The statement said players were "surprised and very frustrated" that "the biggest tennis event in Spain shows so little (or no) support" for Spanish players, and that "commercial interests" took precedence over Spanish sports and "completed deviated from the trajectory of previous years."

"Looking at any other tournament in the same category, local players get significantly higher support," the statement said, pointing to the Rome Masters as an example.

“We fully trust that the main sponsors of the tournament, the Madrid City Council, Mutua Madrilena and Spanish companies - along with the Spanish sports federations, and spectators who are largely nationals -want to be supporting Spanish players and are investing in this tournament to help our sport and want the greatest Spanish presence possible, so we imagine their disappointment and hope they show it.

“We felt it was important to communicate that we are sad we cannot play in our country and share the circumstances that have led to us not having the opportunity.”

Andy Murray hits back at critics of Madrid wildcard

Spanish women's World No.3 Paula Badosa said it was "very sad" for Spanish tennis "at a time when there is a lot of potential."

"I entered the tournament with a wild card a year ago, and it was one of the best of my career," she said.

Murray, who has received a number of wildcards as he battles back from career-saving hip surgery, responded to critics on social media.

“More than happy to play qualifying. Will most likely play qualies in Rome," he tweeted.

"If a tournament invites me to come and play in the main draw are you suggesting I should turn it down and play quailes?”

Murray earlier tweeted: “Amazing how quickly people forget in tennis.”

Murray had previously said he would skip the entire clay-court season in order to avoid getting injured ahead of the grass-court season and Wimbledon.

However he performed a surprise backflip after practicing on clay in recent weeks and feeling good about his hip.

The Madrid Open starts on April 26 and serves as a key lead-up event before the French Open.

Click here to sign up to our newsletter for all the latest and breaking stories from Australia and around the world.