PARIS (AP) — The ATP males’s skilled tennis tour is not going to award rating factors for Wimbledon this yr due to the All England Membership’s ban on gamers from Russia and Belarus over the invasion of Ukraine.
The ATP introduced its choice Friday night time, two days earlier than the beginning of the French Open — and slightly greater than a month earlier than play begins at Wimbledon on June 27. It’s a extremely uncommon and important rebuke of the oldest Grand Slam match.
The All England Membership mentioned in April it might not enable Russians or Belarusians to compete at its grass-court championship.
Russian athletes have been prevented from competing in lots of sports activities, together with soccer’s World Cup qualifying playoffs, for the reason that nation started attacking Ukraine in February. Belarus has aided Russia within the invasion.
“The power for gamers of any nationality to enter tournaments primarily based on advantage, and with out discrimination, is prime to our tour,” the ATP mentioned in a press release. “The choice by Wimbledon to ban Russian and Belarusian gamers from competing within the U.Ok. this summer time undermines this precept and the integrity of the ATP rating system.”
Saying it made this transfer “with nice remorse and reluctance,” the ATP added: “Our guidelines and agreements exist with a view to defend the rights of gamers as a complete. Unilateral choices of this nature, if unaddressed, set a dangerous precedent for the remainder of the tour. Discrimination by particular person tournaments is solely not viable on a tour that operates in additional than 30 nations.”
Quickly after information of the ATP’s response emerged, the Worldwide Tennis Federation mentioned that it might not grant its rating factors for the junior and wheelchair occasions at Wimbledon this yr, explaining that “match organizers aren’t permitted to unilaterally impose entry standards.”
Among the many distinguished gamers affected by the Wimbledon ban are reigning U.S. Open champion Daniil Medvedev, who not too long ago reached No. 1 within the rankings and is at present No. 2; males’s No. 7 Andrey Rublev; ladies’s No. 7 Aryna Sabalenka, a Wimbledon semifinalist final yr; and Victoria Azarenka, a former No. 1 who has received the Australian Open twice.
Medvedev and Rublev are from Russia; Sabalenka and Azarenka are from Belarus.
They’re all eligible to compete in Paris, and Medvedev deflected questions concerning the matter of Wimbledon’s Russia coverage on Friday.
“Proper now I’m centered on Roland Garros,” he mentioned at a pre-tournament information convention. “I’m right here.”
When a reporter raised the opportunity of authorized motion towards the All England Membership, maybe through the Court docket of Arbitration for Sport, Medvedev mentioned: “Me personally, I received’t go to court docket.”
The U.S. Tennis Affiliation, which runs the U.S. Open, has not decided about gamers from Russia and Belarus; that match begins Aug. 29.
___
Extra AP sports activities: https://apnews.com/hub/sports activities and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
