The ATP and the WTA, bodies that manage the professional tennis circuits, announced this Friday that they will not distribute any points during the next Wimbledon tournament if Russian and Belarusian players continue to be excluded from it due to the invasion of Ukraine.
It is a nod to top tennis players who were affected by the ban such as defending champion and reigning world No. 2 Daniil Medvedev, No. 7 Andrey Rublev, No. 7 Aryna Sabalenka, last year’s Wimbledon semifinalist, and Victoria Azarenka, former No. 1 who won the Australian Open twice.
And the wink is even bigger. Because Medvedev, in this way, will reach 7,800 points and regain the number one in the world that he held for a couple of weeks and the Serbian Novak Djokovic (6,660), whatever happens, will be third in the ATP ranking behind from German Alexander Zverev (6895). The top 5 will be completed by the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas and the Spanish Rafael Nadal. Yes, he will raise dust in the arenas of international diplomacy and, especially, in the world of tennis.
In April, the tournament organizers announced that they would not allow the Russians and Belarusians to compete in the grass-court Grand Slam tournament. It was a decision that was in tune with the action taken in various sports, including the 2022 World Cup Qualifiers in Qatar, since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine in February. Belarus is considered as a country that collaborates with the country ruled by Vladimir Putin.
Another blow for Djokovic in a difficult year. Photo: AP
The ATP made the first
The ATP was the first to move the pieces and announced its decision not to distribute points in the All England games late on Friday, two days before the start of the French Open, and just over a month before the start of the actions at Wimbledon, scheduled for June 27.
“It is with great bitterness and disappointment that we announce that Wimbledon will not award ranking points because we have no other choice,” explained the ATP when confirming the measure, after being one of the first to reject the organizers’ decision as unfair and discriminatory. .
“Our rules exist to protect the rights of players and unilateral decisions of this type can create a harmful precedent if they are not dealt with properly. Discrimination by tournaments is not acceptable,” adds the ATP note.
And he closes: “If nothing changes, we are very sorry but we see no other possibility than to withdraw the ATP points at Wimbledon for the 2022 edition.”
Initially, the ATP 500-level Queen’s and ATP 250-level Eastbourne tournaments, like other UK Challengers, are not affected by this measure adopted by the ATP and will report points to participants.
The WTA explanation
“The WTA believes that individual athletes participating in an individual sport should not be penalized or prevented from competing solely because they belong to a country or because of decisions made by the governments of their countries,” it said in a statement.
The governing body for women’s tennis stressed that “recent decisions by the All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC) and the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) to ban athletes from competing in upcoming UK grass-court events violate that fundamental principle. , which is clearly embodied in the WTA rules, the Grand Slam rules and the agreement that the WTA has with the Grand Slams.”
Therefore, the women’s circuit determined that “the WTA has made the difficult decision not to award WTA ranking points for this year’s Wimbledon qualification.”
As decided by the ATP, which left other UK grass-court tournaments prior to Wimbledon unsanctioned, the WTA indicated that “each of the WTA-sanctioned events (Nottingham, Birmingham and Eastbourne) will be penalized and their sanctions for WTA tournaments will be put to the test. Since alternative and comparable opportunities for play and ranking points exist in the same weeks as those events for the affected players, the WTA ranking points will remain in effect for those events.” .
And the ITF too
Immediately afterwards, the International Tennis Federation joined this decision that it made public with a note, for the Wimbledon juniors and wheelchair tennis competitions that it organizes.
“Tournament organizers may not unilaterally impose entry criteria inconsistent with the open entry criteria published by the ITF. Therefore, in accordance with its protocols, the ITF has the right to withdraw ranking points. The ITF has determined that the Wimbledon entry criteria banning Russians and Belarusians compromise the integrity of its international competition, in particular its qualification system, as there is a lack of equivalent alternative opportunities for players to compete for ranking points and prize money,” he pointed.
The ITF recognizes that each government will have its own response to the Belarus-backed Russian invasion of Ukraine and that British tennis has been to ban players from these countries.
“Separately,” he stressed, “ITF ranking points will only be retained at UK-based LTA tournaments on the ITF World Tennis Tour, Juniors, Wheelchair and Seniors international tours if satisfactory alternative equivalent opportunities exist elsewhere. countries”.
Source: agencies
