Tennis Tours Penalize Wimbledon Over Ban on Russian Players - The New York Times

PARIS — The men’s and women’s tennis tours responded to Wimbledon’s ban on Russian and Belarusian players on Friday by stripping the event of ranking points this year, the most significant rebuke to date of efforts by global sports organizations to ostracize individual Russian athletes as punishment for their country’s invasion of Ukraine.

It is a move without precedent in tennis, and without the points, Wimbledon, the oldest of the four Grand Slam tournaments, will technically be an exhibition event, bringing no ranking boost to those who excel on its pristine lawns this year.

Though Wimbledon, for now, is the only one of the four major tournaments to ban Russians and Belarusians, the power play by the tours could lead to countermeasures, including the possibility of Grand Slam events considering an alternative ranking system or aligning to make more decisions independently of the tours.

The International Tennis Federation, which operates separately from the tours, also announced that it was removing ranking points from the junior and wheelchair events at Wimbledon this year.

Organizers of Wimbledon, a grass court tournament and British cultural institution that begins on June 27, announced the ban on Russian and Belarusian players last month in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which was undertaken with the support of Belarus.

Other British grass-court tournaments that are staged in June, including the Wimbledon prep events at Eastbourne and at Queen’s Club in London, have announced similar bans.

“The decision by Wimbledon to ban Russian and Belarusian players from competing in the U.K.

1 men’s player from Serbia and a six-time Wimbledon champion, made it clear on Sunday after winning the Italian Open in Rome that he would not support skipping the event in protest even if he remained against the decision to bar the Russian and Belarusian players.

Unlike Wimbledon, the lead-in events in Britain have not been stripped of ranking points despite being formally part of the tours.

Wimbledon, as a Grand Slam event, operates independently but does have agreements with the tours on many levels, including ranking points.

But the ATP and WTA chose not to strip points from the British lead-in events because other tournaments located on the European continent were still open to Russian and Belarusian players during those three weeks of the grasscourt season.

There was also the concern that without ranking points on offer, players would choose to withdraw from the British grasscourt tournaments.

Russian and Belarusian players, including the men’s No.

The tours and the International Tennis Federation also canceled tournaments scheduled to be played in Russia and Belarus later this year, including the Kremlin Cup in Moscow.