Wimbledon told what they must do to regain ranking points by ATP chief
ATP chief Andrea Gaudenzi has defended their decision to strip ranking points from Wimbledon – and revealed what it would take for them to reverse it.
Wimbledon performance will not be worth any ranking points this year in response to them banning players from Russia and Belarus due to the crisis in Ukraine.
There has been plenty of speculation that the ATP are just trying to strongarm Wimbledon into changing their position.
However, Gaudenzi says the ATP are committed to their own stance – although he did offer a compromise of sorts.
“We would be very happy to return the points to Wimbledon if the ban on Russians and Belarusians, who have said they are willing to make written statements because none of them is in favour of war were lifted,” Gaudenzi told the Italian media.
“The reason why we removed the points at Wimbledon is known – it is a matter of fairness and discrimination in response to a unilateral decision of the tournament that we do not consider right.
“Such a decision should have been taken collectively involving all seven components of tennis. This story proves once more that we need a unique governance in tennis.”
It should be noted, though, that Wimbledon officials have stated they believe asking players to sign such statements would compromise their safety and that of their families, so it looks like a non-starter from the off.
Many have suggested the ATP’s decision is actually more unfair than the original ban is because the better you did at last year’s Wimbledon, the more you are punished this year.
Gaudenzi has dismissed those ideas, though, explaining that points expire after 52 weeks regardless of results.
“From a ranking point of view, we want to have a ranking in 2022 where each player had access to the same number of points. This is the only way to have a fair ranking at the end of the year.
“If we gave protection to those who played well at Wimbledon in 2021 it would be even more unfair to those who play well in 2022, because the points would still expire after 52 weeks as always happens.
“We can’t protect seven or eight players by creating even more damage to everyone else.
“Unfortunately, Wimbledon points will be missing in the year-end ranking, but from our point of view it is the fairest choice and WTA agrees with us.”
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