Wimbledon has had its ranking points stripped by the men’s ATP and women’s WTA Tour over its decision to exclude players from Russia and Belarus from the 2022 Championships due to Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
In addition the International Tennis Federation (ITF) said it will not grant ranking points to Wimbledon this year for junior and wheelchair tennis events.
The All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC), which run Wimbledon, expressed ‘deep disappointment’ and said they were ‘considering their options’.
Tennis’ governing bodies have banned Russia and Belarus from international team competitions following the invasion, but allowed players from the two countries to continue competing as neutrals.
“The ability for players of any nationality to enter tournaments based on merit, and without discrimination, is fundamental to our Tour,” the ATP said on Friday.
“The decision by Wimbledon to ban Russian and Belarusian players from competing in the UK this summer undermines this principle and the integrity of the ATP Ranking system. It is also inconsistent with our Rankings agreement.
WTA Chairman and CEO Steve Simon said: “Nearly 50 years ago, the WTA was founded on the fundamental principle that all players have an equal opportunity to compete based on merit and without discrimination.
“The WTA believes that individual athletes participating in an individual sport should not be penalised or prevented from competing solely because of their nationalities or the decisions made by the governments of their countries.”
(Photo by Matthias Hangst/Getty Images)
The moves effectively reduce the world’s most famous tennis tournament to an exhibition event, albeit with significant status and prize money.
The AELTC responded: “We appreciate that opinions differ in relation to our decision to decline entries from Russian and Belarusian players to the championships this year, and we deeply regret the impact of this decision on the individuals affected.
“However, given the position taken by the UK Government to limit Russia’s global influence, which removed automatic entry by ranking, and the widespread response of Government, industry, sport and creative institutions, we remain of the view that we have made the only viable decision for Wimbledon as a globally renowned sporting event and British institution, and we stand by the decision we have made.
“We therefore wish to state our deep disappointment at the decisions taken by the ATP, WTA and ITF in removing ranking points for the championships.
“We believe these decisions to be disproportionate in the context of the exceptional and extreme circumstances of this situation and the position we found ourselves in, and damaging to all players who compete on tour.
“We are considering our options, and we are reserving our position at this stage. We are also in discussion with our Grand Slam colleagues.”
The most notable of the players banned, Russian world No.2 Daniil Medvedev, said on Friday he will not take the AELTC to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to contest it.
“I’m not a lawyer… if I can’t play I’m not going to go to court for this one,” Medvedev said.
Russian football authorities have gone to CAS to argue against bans on football teams.
Luke
Guest
Swimming is also an individual sport? Banning them in that sport also doesn't make any sense.
Nick
Roar Guru
Wimbledon exercised their legal right as a private club, ATP/WTA are exercising theirs. Nothing more than that. The merits of each action could be debated all day
Nick
Roar Guru
If Whataboutism is all you have, you've lost the argument before you started
Cam
Roar Rookie
Poor Medvedev. Please... No mention of support from the ITF for Sergiy Stakhovsky who will also miss Wimbledon because of his nationality. Sergiy has had to put down his racquet and pick up a Kalashnikov and is currently stationed in Kyiv, defending his homeland against the Russian invaders. If banning Medvedev applies some small amount of pressure on the Russian authorities to stop the slaughter of Ukrainian civilians, I'm all for it. Respect to the All England Lawn Tennis Club for drawing a line in the sand.
JGK
Roar Guru
Well done ATP and WTA. It was a poor decision by Wimbledon. I wonder if any of the players will go a step further and just withdraw from the tournament.
Aiden
Guest
While I support almost all of the sanctions against Russian teams and players who represent Russia like in swimming, Tennis is a uniquely individual sport (other than Davis Cup). I don’t really get how denying access to people with a particular ethnicity helps. And then Wimbledon didn’t ban English athletes because England got involved in an illegal and pointless invasion of Iraq (remember they didn’t have security council backing … it was the ‘cohilition of the willing.’
Cadfael
Roar Guru
Easy fixed. Just give Russia another ATP tournament. However, what happens if other countries ban these athletes? Will the ATP strip mthe USA of ATP tournaments played there? Interesting times ahead.