Wimbledon will not give points to players if Russians and Belarusians are excluded

The ATP, which manages the men’s professional tennis circuit, announced on Friday that it will not distribute points at the next Wimbledon tournament if Russian and Belarusian players remain excluded due to the invasion of Ukraine.

“If nothing changes, we will be very sorry, but we see no other option than to withdraw ATP Wimbledon points for the 2022 edition,” the organization said in a statement.

Minutes later, the WTA, the women’s tennis association, also spoke in the same vein.

“Due to Wimbledon’s decision not to use the WTA classification to decide participation and to decide a partial frame based on merit, the WTA has made the difficult decision not to award points at Wimbledon this year,” the organization’s statement reads.

The Grass Grand Slam announced on 20 April its intention to exclude Russian and Belarusian players from the 2022 edition, as, “in the circumstances of an unprecedented and unjustified military aggression, it would be unacceptable for the Russian regime to derive any benefit from participation of Russian and Belarusian players”.

Wimbledon, which runs from June 27 to July 10, highlighted that the exclusion, which has been criticized in the tennis world, could be reviewed “if circumstances change radically by June”.

After learning of the ATP and WTA decisions, the organizers of the English Grand Slam considered the measure “disproportionate in the context of the exceptional and extreme circumstances of the situation”.

If it doesn’t count points in the ATP and WTA rankings, Wimbledon would, in practical terms, become a full-scale friendly tournament.

The four Grand Slams on the tennis calendar (Australian Open, Roland Garros, Wimbledon and US Open) are not directly dependent on ATP and WTA.

The ATP stressed that Wimbledon had chosen to follow the “recommendations” of the British government, but that it was under no obligation to do so.

“These informal recommendations offered an alternative that would allow players to participate under a neutral flag after signing a declaration” against the invasion of Ukraine, something that the ATP would have been more acceptable to.

All England Club president Ian Hewitt said this option would pose a risk to “the players and their families”.

The International Tennis Federation (ITF) has announced that it will also withdraw Wimbledon points for junior and wheelchair tennis tournaments.

“The ITF’s position remains that Russian and Belarusian players should be allowed to participate as neutral athletes,” explained the federation, which in turn vetoed Russia and Belarus from participating as countries in its national team competitions.