Runs by ATP and WTA – Governing bodies of men’s and women’s tennis tours – to snatch Wimbledon Its primary currency for the 2022 edition, the all-important ranking points, represents the harshest rebuke for autonomous overreach by the oldest Grand Slam event in dwindling entries from Russian and Belarusian players. The ATP said on Friday that the move was to protect the “integrity of the sport”, which was built on “merit-based tournament entry” (via rankings) and an equal playing field. The WTA agreed, basing its decision on its fundamental principle of equal opportunity, championed by the great Billie Jean King. The International Tennis Federation (ITF) followed suit by removing points from junior and wheelchair competitions. As a result, the most prestigious tennis tournament in the world has been reduced to an exhibition program, preventing the reconsideration of feudal parties. There may not be a massive player drop-out for Wimbledon, both in terms of prestige and prize money. But this saga will surely keep the order of the game intact. Tennis rankings work over a rolling 52-week period, which is updated by adding the points earned in the previous week and subtracting from the equivalent week of the previous year. Now, world No. 1 Novak Djokovic’s 2000 points of winning the 2021 edition will be dropped without any additions this year, causing serious disruption to the upper echelons of men’s tennis.
More broadly, the nuisance is likely to end up causing injury to everyone. World number two Daniil Medvedev and world number seven Andrey Rublev criticized Wimbledon for triggering controversy by unfairly targeting Russians and Belarusians for the actions of their political leaders, despite publicly calling for peace. is punished. But pushback by the ATP, WTA and ITF will unfortunately cause collateral damage to the scores of players, especially those at the bottom, otherwise eligible to earn points. While the ATP has correctly insisted that an acceptable solution could be found if Wimbledon had not chosen to act unilaterally based on “informal guidance” from the British government, it is a fact that tennis’s seven governing bodies – ATP, WTA, ITF and four majors – mostly work at cross-purposes and act in selfishness. The ATP has not spoken out for assigning a disproportionately high number of ranking points to its flagship multi-nation team competition, the ATP Cup, despite the tournament being closed. Wimbledon has, for now, stopped voicing its dismay and secured its spot, with the ongoing French Open providing a welcome distraction to fans. But any attempt to advance this powerplay by driving another wedge, rather than following a progressive path, will further divide the game.