'It's discrimination' - Sloane Stephens slams Wimbledon for Russia ban in strong French Open press conference

Sloane Stephens has slammed Wimbledon for its ban on Russian and Belarusian players in a very strong French Open press conference. The former US Open champion backed the decision to strip Wimbledon of its ranking points after the All England Club banned Russian and Belarusian players from the grass-court Grand Slam following the invasion of Ukraine. Ad/> Stephens was addressing the media after her 5-7 6-4 6-2 first-round victory over Jule Niemeier and had powerful words for Wimbledon after the ATP and WTA made their decision last Friday which means players will not receive ranking points at the iconic tournament.

WTA Indian WellsOsaka hits back against Stephens to make winning return to tour11/03/2022 AT 01:40 Wimbledon's ban has ruled out a host of big-name players, including men's world No. 2 Daniil Medvedev and last year's women's semi-finalist Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus, as well as two-time major winner Victoria Azarenka. Stephens believes the ban from Wimbledon is «discriminatory» and against everything the ATP and WTA Tours stand for in terms of everyone being included and free to compete.

«I think the decision that was taken was the correct one,» Stephens began in her press conference. «I think that there are a lot of things that happened behind the scenes that the press are not aware of, and I think there has been a lot of mishandling of how everything was handled. We will just go from there.

»I mean, obviously I support our CEO, I support my council, I support the players. The decision that's been taken obviously wasn't taken lightly. I think when you are backed into a corner and that's all you can do, I think that's why the decision was made, and I support it.