Wimbledon Under Threat as ATP Players Call to Withdraw Ranking Points From the Tournament

Wimbledon seems to be getting a taste of its own medicine. As per reports, Wimbledon is in a crisis talk with ATP. The talk comes following the men’s players’ call to their governing body to withdraw all the ranking points from Wimbledon. The call is a follow up to Wimbledon’s decision of banning Russian and Belarusian players to compete this year.

On 20th April, Wimbledon announced that it is banning Russian and Belarusian players from competing at the Mecca of Tennis this year. As per the Wimbledon officials, the decision came in as a show of protest against the ongoing Russia-Ukraine crisis. The decision received high criticism around the world, with people calling it nothing but a political move.

ATP players call to withdraw winning points

The four Grand Slams are the most important tournaments on ATP as well as the WTA Tour. As per the current ranking system, the Grand Slams carry a maximum of 2000 points with them. The massive ranking points become one of the major reasons for every pro player trying to compete at the four tournaments.

Taking the reason into consideration, it wouldn’t be wrong to say that the player’s suggestion of withdrawing the ranking points could be a massive problem for Wimbledon. As per the players, it is not fair to award ranking points if players like Daniil Medvedev, Andrey Rublev, and Karen Khachanov are not allowed to compete.

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ATP as well as WTA have been critical of Wimbledon’s decision to ban Russian and Belarusian players. However, neither of the two have taken any step in regard to it yet. As per reports, ATP is due to announce its decision to withdraw ranking points by the end of this week.

Russian players at Wimbledon

Russian players have been prominent at the grass courts of the All England Lawn Tennis Club. Having a look at the current lot of Russian players, the first name that comes to mind is the World No. 2 Daniil Medvedev.

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Medvedev has played a total of five times at Wimbledon. He first played in 2016, suffering a qualifying round exit. Playing every year after that, his best performance came at last year’s Wimbledon where he was outplayed by Hubert Hurkacz in the fourth round.

Like Medvedev, a number of other Russian players have also had decent performances at Wimbledon. Andrey Rublev also reached the fourth round of Wimbledon last year.

With the player’s call in place and the ATP’s decision awaited, it goes without saying that Wimbledon is undergoing a tough time. However, with Wimbledon being firm on its decision of not to remove the ban, it would a thing to see what happens next.