Cameron Norrie believes some of the leading tennis stars could drop out of the 2022 Wimbledon Championships following the ATP's removal of points from this year's competition.
In April, the All England Club decided to ban Russian and Belarusian players from competing at the 2022 grass-court Slam. These sanctions were in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February.
Since the invasion, several sporting competitions have banned competitors from the two nations in a show of solidarity with Ukraine. However, following calls of unfairness towards players, the ATP and WTA decided to waive points from this year's Wimbledon competition.
Male and female winners of the Grand Slam singles event usually receive 2,000 points, while the runner-up traditionally gets 1,200 ranking points, but these won't be awarded this year.
Players have started to speak out about the ruling, and some have defended the decisions of the ATP and WTA. One of the latest people to join the debate is British star Norrie, who feels Wimbledon's lack of points may change the allure of the event this season, while playing for no ranking may put some elite players off from entering.
"Obviously it’s an extremely difficult situation with everything going on with the war, but for me it’s tough. Having a home slam and not having to gain any ranking points from that and the tradition of it."
"You’re not really playing for anything, you’re playing this almost like an exhibition so for me it was tough to see that and obviously it’s a really tricky situation but I would have liked to see it still have points, still have something on the line."
"Wimbledon is still such a special event. But I think you’ll see a lot of top players not playing, just resting and getting ready for the hard-court events. Making sure that they’re ready for those. Especially those that don’t worry too much about the money. So I could see a few top players not playing because of that."
The 2022 Wimbledon Championships will begin on June 27 but it remains to be seen which players will attend the third Grand Slam of the season. Due to the All England Club's ban on Russian and Belarusian, top-level players like Aryna Sabalenka and Danill Medvedev won't be in contention to play this season.
However, reigning men's champion Novak Djokovic could play at SW19 as he looks to defend his 2021 title. Meanwhile, the women's draw won't see Ashleigh Barty return as she stunned the tennis world with a shock retirement earlier in 2022.
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