'It's discrimination' - Stephens slams Wimbledon for Russia ban

Sloane Stephens has backed the decision to strip Wimbledon of ranking points, after the All England Club banned Russian and Belarusian players from the Grand Slam.

Both the WTA and the ATP announced on Friday that no points would be on offer at this year's tournament after Wimbledon chiefs banned Russian and Belarusian players from competing in the wake of the war in Ukraine.

A number of players including Andy Murray, Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal have spoken out against the All England Club's stance.

And Stephens, a member of the Tour's player council, said: "I think the (WTA's) decision that was taken was the correct one.

"I think that there is a lot of things that happened behind the scenes and I think there has been a lot of mishandling of how everything was handled.

"We will just go from there. 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.

"I think when you look at the principles and what our Tour stands for, discrimination will never be tolerated."

Cameron Norrie believes the grass-court tournament has been reduced to nothing more than an exhibition this summer.

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