Removal of points at Wimbledon would be a true exhibition of rank stupidity

If there is anybody playing Wimbledon just to gain computer ranking points, if that’s truly what motivates them, then they are playing the wrong sport and with the wrong attitude.

I find it bewildering Naomi Osaka or any other player in the draw would refer to the championship at Wimbledon as an exhibition event.

Some in the media have also fallen squarely into this trap, joining some players in what looks to me like a squalid game of self-preservation motivated by self-interest.

If you are only saying what your editor wants to hear then you are compromised as a journalist. If you are only playing to go up a few places in the rankings, you’re not likely to be enjoying your career.

The decision by the ATP, the WTA and the ITF governing bodies to withdraw ranking points from Wimbledon in response tothe tournament barring Russian and Belarusian players is short-sighted and should be condemned by any observer that can see life and death outside of their little bubble.

Wimbledon is not perfect — and I only speak for myself despite being a member of the club — but in this instance a moral and principled stand has been taken in the face of unspeakable savagery and military aggression.

That the ATP and WTA should only have vision to the end of their noses is shameful. They talk in reverential tones about the integrity of their ranking system while the bodies of men, women and children are being exhumed from shallow graves.

They talk of unfairness to richly rewarded and vastly heralded sporting celebrities while the president of Russia deports innocent civilians away from their homes in scenes eerily reminiscent of the Holocaust.

Where is there any sign beyond watery words of real action being taken against a barbarous regime that