The ATP, men’s tennis governing body, may strip Wimbledon of ranking points as the Championships imposed a ban on players from Russia and Belarus.
According to The Times, Wimbledon top officials are locked in crisis talks with the ATP and an announcement expected sometime later this week.
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Some of the top men’s players have reportedly urged the ATP to withdraw all ranking points from Wimbledon.
Wimbledon’s ban means players such as world No.2 Daniil Medvedev and world No.7 Andrey Rublev, as well as women‘s world No.8 Aryna Sabalenka and two-time Australian Open winner Victoria Azarenka, would all be ineligible from the 2022 tournament starting June 27.
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All four Grand Slam tournaments are worth 2000 ranking points each to the winners, which makes them by far the most important tournaments on the calendar.
The players believe it would be unfair to hand out those points if players such as Medvedev, who is the reigning US Open champion, were absent.
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Rafael Nadal, the 21-time Grand Slam singles champion, described Wimbledon’s ban as “the most drastic option”.
“It’s unfair for my Russian colleagues,” he said.
“I’m sorry for them. I wish it was not this way, but at the end of the day we know that this is what we have.”
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World No.1 Novak Djokovic went a step further, labelling it “crazy”, while Rublev said it was “complete discrimination”.
Wimbledon is reportedly keen to avoid any chance of the Russian government using the prestigious tournament as part of its propaganda in the event that a Russian player won one of the finals.
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