Wimbledon 2022: ATP suspends ranking points over ban on Russian-Belarusian players
The Russian and Belarusian players are banned from participation in Wimbledon 2022. Meanwhile, ATP has suspended the ranking points for the Grand Slam over its rule violation.
FollowIt was a shock when the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) of Great Britain announced a couple of weeks back that the Russian and Belarusian players would be banned from participating in the 2022 Wimbledon. The organisers made the move over Russia's unprovoked attack and invasion of Ukraine, while Belarus aided the former. Consequently, the move drew extreme criticisms from fans and the participating players and, most importantly, a violation of the rule set up by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). On the same note, the ATP has decided to suspend the rankings system for the grass-court Grand Slam (GS), set to be played between June 27-July 10.
The ATP released a statement on the same Friday evening that read, "Absent a change in circumstances, it is with great regret and reluctance that we see no option but to remove ATP Ranking points from Wimbledon for 2022. Our rules and agreements exist in order to protect the rights of players as a whole. Unilateral decisions of this nature, if unaddressed, set a damaging precedent for the rest of the Tour. Discrimination by individual tournaments is simply not viable on a Tour that operates in more than 30 countries."
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"We greatly value our long-standing relationships with Wimbledon and the LTA and do not underestimate the difficult decisions faced in responding to recent UK Government guidance. However, we note that this was informal guidance, not a mandate, which offered an alternative option that would have left the decision in the hands of individual players competing as neutral athletes through a signed declaration. Our internal discussions with affected players, in fact, led us to conclude this would have been a more agreeable option for the Tour. We remain hopeful of further discussions with Wimbledon leading to an acceptable outcome for all concerned. More broadly, we believe this matter again highlights the need for a united governance structure across professional tennis so that decisions of this nature can be made in a joint manner," it added.
Under the current ATP guidelines, Russian and Belarusian players can participate in its tournament under neutral flags. Meanwhile, ATP has announced that the players would be getting ranking points for their participation in the United Kingdom's (UK's) warm-up grass-court tournaments, i.e. the Queen's (ATP 500), Eastbourne (ATP 250), along with the ATP Challenger events. Also, ATP would separately assess the sanctions for LTA's ATP guideline violation.
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"Our condemnation of Russia's devastating invasion of Ukraine remains unequivocal. Immediate action was taken to suspend the ATP Tour event in Moscow and have Russian and Belarusian athletes compete under neutral flags on Tour. In parallel, we have continued our humanitarian support for Ukraine, together with the other governing bodies of tennis, as well as providing direct financial assistance to many affected players," it concluded.
