No world ranking points will be awarded at the Wimbledon Grand Slam tournament this year. The professional organizations ATP and WTA are thus reacting to the ban on Russian and Belarusian professionals.
The most famous tournament is dividing the tennis world, the attitude of Wimbledon on the Russia question has prompted the professional organizations to take an unprecedented step: Because the guardians over the sacred lawn because of the Russian attack on Ukraine at the Grand Slam players starting on June 27th and players from Russia and Belarus have excluded, ATP and WTA are deleting the world ranking points from the tournament – they see their integrity violated.
“The opportunity for players of any nationality to participate in tournaments based on their performance and without discrimination is fundamental to our tour,” said a statement released by the men’s organization ATP on Friday evening: “The decision of Wimbledon, Russia and Banning Belarusian players from participating this summer undermines this principle and the integrity of the ATP ranking system.”
The ATP also wants to prevent a precedent according to which individual tournaments are allowed to discriminate against certain players through their own decisions. “This is not feasible on a tour that takes place in more than 30 countries,” it said. A little later, the women’s association WTA joined this “difficult decision”.
“The WTA believes that individuals participating in an individual sport should not be penalized and banned from competing because of their nationality for decisions made by their countries’ governments,” said WTA Chairman Steve Simon Lawn Tennis Club and the Lawn Tennis Association violate this fundamental principle, which is clearly enshrined in the rules of the WTA and the Grand Slams and in the agreement between the WTA and the Grand Slams.”
The only Grand Slam tournament in Wimbledon organized by a private organization (the national associations are responsible for the other three) had stipulated in April that players from Russia and Belarus would not be allowed to play from June 27 to June 27 due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine 10 July to take part in the most famous tournament in the world. This affects, among others, Russia’s top star Daniil Medvedev
The measure went well beyond the course of the players’ unions ATP and WTA – at their tournaments the relevant professionals are admitted under a neutral flag.
This had caused powerful disagreements among the pros. Serbia’s world number one Novak Djokovic called the decision “crazy”, after all this war was “not the players’ fault”. The Ukrainian top players Elina Svitolina and Marta Kostjuk, on the other hand, demanded that all other tournaments should follow the ban.