LONDON: In a welcome move that upholds the long espoused principle that politics should be kept out of international sport, the ATP, WTA and International Tennis Federation (ITF) late Friday confirmed that this year’s Wimbledon Grand Slam has been stripped of ranking points.
Reason: The decision by the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA), UK’s governing body for tennis, following on from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, to ban Russian and Belarusian players from participating in the sport’s only grass court Grand Slam.
The immediate impact of the joint decision by tennis’ global bodies is that should the ban stay in place, this year’s Wimbledon will be reduced to the status of a high-profile exhibition event.
While announcing its decision, the ATP stated: “The ability for players of any nationality to enter tournaments based on merit, and without discrimination, is fundamental to our Tour. 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. Absent a change in circumstances (emphasis ours), 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.”
The WTA separately stated: “As a result of the AELTC’s (All England Lawn Tennis Club, which runs Wimbledon) position that it will not honor its obligation to use the WTA Rankings for entry into Wimbledon and proceed with a partial field not based on merit, the WTA has made the difficult decision to not award WTA ranking points for this year’s Wimbledon Championships.
“In addition, each of the WTA-sanctioned events (Nottingham, Birmingham, and Eastbourne) will be penalized and their WTA tournament sanctions will be placed on probation. Since alternative and comparable playing and ranking point opportunities exist in the same weeks as those events for the affected players, WTA ranking points will remain in place for those events.”
The ITF also confirmed it was refusing to grant ranking points to Wimbledon for junior and wheelchair events.
Meanwhile, the ATP, further stated: “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 (again emphasis ours), 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.
“Separately, as previously announced, we confirm that ranking points will remain at ATP Tour events at Queen’s (ATP 500), Eastbourne (ATP 250) and ATP Challenger events in the UK. We have taken this decision on the basis that alternative playing opportunities are open to Russian and Belarusian players in those weeks, unlike during Wimbledon, which minimises any impact on the integrity of the rankings. Sanctions related to LTA’s violation of ATP rules will be assessed separately.”
Though couched in diplomatese, the ATP statement made clear that LTA’s playing in lockstep with the UK government was unwarranted and decisions of this nature should be made in consultation with tennis bodies, not governments.
