British Doubles star Tara Moore has slammed the WTA and the ATP for allegedly voting through a decision to strip Wimbledon of its ranking points as the governing body failed failed to consult any of their fellow players on the tour before making the decision.
Last month Wimbledon announced that Russian and Belarusian players were to be banned from this year’s tournament due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The ban means that the four Russian men in the top 30 in the ATP rankings and six Russian and Belarusian players in the top 32 of the WTA rankings, who would have been seeds at Wimbledon, are unable to compete.
The ban has been widely condemned by many key stakeholders in tennis including current players, coaches and even tennis’ governing bodies, with many calling for a strong response from the WTA and ATP to Wimbledon’s actions.
Both the ATP and WTA have expressed their disappointment in Wimbledon’s decision, with both governing bodies meeting in Madrid last week to discuss the possibility of Wimbledon becoming an ‘exhibition event’ where no ranking points will be available. However, Doubles world number 89 Tara Moore, via her Instagram story, slammed both tours claiming that they had already voted in favour of removing all ranking points from the grass-court Grand Slam without consulting players outside of the council.
“Can someone explain to me how the WTA player council (who is supposed to represent the players) has voted for NO POINTS to be given at WIMBLEDON and no player outside the council was even consulted?!?!”
The 29-year-old also shared a screenshot of her story on Twitter, adding, “Also the ATP players council has voted this through too.”
