‘I want to know if ATP wants to defend players or Russia’ – Benoit Paire fumes over Wimbledon ranking points

Benoit Paire has hit out at the decision to strip ranking points from Wimbledon, saying it will be like “going to an exhibition tournament just to cash a cheque”. Wimbledon ruled that Russian and Belarusian players will be banned from competing this summer following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Ad/> The move goes against the current regulations on the ATP and WTA tours, and the governing bodies responded by stripping all ranking points from the Grand Slam.

ATP AcapulcoZverev beats Brooksby at 4.55am to set record for latest-ever finish22/02/2022 AT 14:46 That means players will not be able to improve their rankings at Wimbledon and those defending points from last year will automatically drop them. Paire, who is one of the more outspoken players on the ATP Tour, requested to speak to the media following his French Open loss to Ilya Ivashka to give his views on the subject. “We are going to play a tournament without any points.

When some people had Covid, we didn't say, ‘oh, okay, we should cancel the tournament altogether’. Watch shocking moment Rublev blasts ball into chair McEnroe challenges Henman over Wimbledon ban Osaka 'leaning' towards not playing Wimbledon “But then we have three or four Russian players, including [world No. 2 Daniil] Medvedev, and we are rallying against Wimbledon.

I think it's a pity, because if we were to listen to all the players, players do not understand this decision – 99% of players, they want to have points and to play the tournament as it was before. “So I want to know if ATP wants to defend players or Russia.” The decision to remove ranking points means 2021 men’s Wimbledon champion Novak Djokovic will not be able to defend 2,000 points. Women’s champion Ashleigh Barty will not be