Wimbledon Stripped of Ranking Points

[stotty]

Strange decision by the ATP. I guess you either sit on one side of the fence or the other on this one but in my view Wimbledon got it spot on, and ATP have just offered the Kremlin a mighty great piece of sporting propaganda.

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2022/may/20/wimbledon-stripped-of-ranking-points-over-banning-of-russian-players-tennis

[jeffreycounts]

The whole thing is a mess. I wish all the Slams followed Wimbledon in this regard, but because they are an outlier, it makes it easy for the ATP to do this. If I was a Russian player I'd take my family out of the country and move to a place that doesn't engage in genocide. When you start bombing maternity wards and raping children, your country is not worth representing on any level. But then again here in DC we have Alexander Ovechkin, whose instagram profile picture is of him and his best buddy Putin.

[jimlosaltos]

Here are the current rankings on the left and the "Race to Turin" or year to date point totals for the ATP on your right. I pulled them his am.

I can't recall when the men's singles ranking and the "Race to Turn" or year-to-date totals were quite so divergent as we near mid-year, with the world's number 1 & 2 down at 10 and 7 in the YTD totals.

Djokovic returned to number one when Medvedev lost in Miami took time off for hernia surgery. But Djoko has only one title this year, entered only 5 tournaments, and has a 12-4 record. Yet even that one, lonely title gives him enough points to be 10th in the world YTD.

The ATP has said nothing about modifying how points roll off a player's total after a year. Recall, it changed that for covid, but so far has not made a change for the Wimbledon ban. So, Djokovic would lose his Wimbledon points and his US Open points are at risk because currently he is banned from traveling to NYC. Although that could change.

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[jimlosaltos]

Impact on rankings should be less significant on the WTA side with only Any Sabalenka among the top 10 banned from the Wimby's lawns, and Iga running away with things anyway.

Iga has already qualified for the year-end round robin of the top 8 women -- in May.

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[jimlosaltos]

Brit Norrie believes top players will skip Wimbledon

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2022/may/22/norrie-backs-top-players-to-skip-wimbledon-after-atp-decision

“Wimbledon is still such a special event,” he said. “But I think you’ll see a lot of top players not playing, just resting and getting ready for the hard-court events. Making sure that they’re ready for those. Especially those that don’t worry too much about the money. So I could see a few top players not playing because of that.”

[glacierguy]

The phrase that comes to mind is "Two wrongs don't make a right". What a mess.

[jimlosaltos]

The phrase that comes to mind is "Two wrongs don't make a right". What a mess.

Agreed. My personal opinion, for what that's worth, is that the ATP approach of letting individuals play without attribution is a good compromise.

BUT when the ATP and WTA lost the negotiation with Wimbledon and went public in opposing it, they naively blundered. The ATP & WTA have now become what Putin and his FSB call "useful idiots"; they will be featured on RT govt TV in Russia and worldwide as evidence the sanction regime is falling apart and that even people in the West say it is wrong. The ATP doubled down by calling this "discrimination", which brings the entire sanction regime into question. Just ham-handed and shallow.

The only thing the ATP and WTA had to gain from going public, is PR with the players in their fight to keep the populist movement beyond the PTPA from undermining their current structure. Small gain for the greater loss.

[stotty]

Agreed. My personal opinion, for what that's worth, is that the ATP approach of letting individuals play without attribution is a good compromise.

BUT when the ATP and WTA lost the negotiation with Wimbledon and went public in opposing it, they naively blundered. The ATP & WTA have now become what Putin and his FSB call "useful idiots"; they will be featured on RT govt TV in Russia and worldwide as evidence the sanction regime is falling apart and that even people in the West say it is wrong. The ATP doubled down by calling this "discrimination", which brings the entire sanction regime into question. Just ham-handed and shallow.

The only thing the ATP and WTA had to gain from going public, is PR with the players in their fight to keep the populist movement beyond the PTPA from undermining their current structure. Small gain for the greater loss.

Well said. I take a more extreme stance than you and glacierguy but certainly respect the opinion of both of you. I think we can all agree that the ATP have clumsily handed Putin something he can gloat about.

Far more worrying to me is China, who are steadily biding their time, building a military both capable of seizing Taiwan and one that the US fancy taking on, either directly or by proxy. China won't cock things up like Putin has, and, economically, they carry far more weight than Russia.

[doctorhl]

Although a different time and circumstance, can anyone summarize tennis governing associations positions on South African players competing during the apartheid years. Just wondering if their are any parallels in reasoning with player’s autonomy versus government representation.

[doctorhl]

A small recap of a prior political clash between world politics and tennis players and their federations.

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-05-10-sp-1704-story.html

[jimlosaltos]

A small recap of a prior political clash between world politics and tennis players and their federations.

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-...704-story.html

Thanks for the good, historical perspective, doctorhl

[glacierguy]

A small recap of a prior political clash between world politics and tennis players and their federations.

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-...704-story.html

Very interesting. The bit near the end when it is pointed out that Amnesty International judged the human rights situation in apartheid South Africa to be better than in Syria, Iran & Libya (countries that did not suffer any exclusion from sporting events) highlighted for me the hypocrisy and lack of consistency that still exists today.

[jimlosaltos]

Martina Navratilova has suggested players have their priorities wrong if they are putting a lack of ranking points ahead of the prestige of winning Wimbledon.

Hmmm, Eurosport article no longer available in US, but perhaps to some of you:

https://www.eurosport.com/geoblocking.shtml

[stotty]

Martina Navratilova has suggested players have their priorities wrong if they are putting a lack of ranking points ahead of the prestige of winning Wimbledon.

Hmmm, Eurosport article no longer available in US, but perhaps to some of you:
https://www.eurosport.com/geoblocking.shtml

I guess you're bound to say that if you've won the tournament 9 times. But I have to concede I think she is right. I think Osaka, with her stance, has lost the plot of what tennis is all about. There was a time when great players played for no money whatsoever let alone ranking points. I would like to say to Osaka - ''It's about winning the tournament, Dummy!''

[stroke]

I guess you're bound to say that if you've won the tournament 9 times. But I have to concede I think she is right. I think Osaka, with her stance, has lost the plot of what tennis is all about. There was a time when great players played for no money whatsoever let alone ranking points. I would like to say to Osaka - ''It's about winning the tournament, Dummy!''

There is not much Oaska gets right.

My take is Wimbledon outsmarted themselves on this one. I don't expect many other tournaments will follow their lead.