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Wimbledon bans Russian & Belarusian Players


BuffaloKyle

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4 hours ago, mike carey said:

IIRC lead-up tournaments like Queen's have not been stripped. I smell a stunt in the decision to apply the rule selectively to Wimbledon and not others.

Half the rationale for keeping ranking points for Queens and Eastbourne is that Russian and Belarusian players still have the option of playing Halle and Mallorca the same weeks, for the same points even though Queens and Eastbourne violate the same rule as Wimbledon does -- entry based solely on ranking.  Obviously, there is no equivalent alternative to Wimbledon.

As for the other half of their rationale, at least the ATP (I confess I don't follow the women's side closely) was up-front about applying a double standard.  The ATP stated publicly that if they had stripped Queens and Eastbourne of ranking points, those tournaments would have financially collapsed.  Granted, "we can't let them go bankrupt" isn't the most noble argument for giving a tournament a free pass, but at least you gotta respect the ATP for their honesty.  In contrast, Wimbledon will be flush with cash, ranking points or not.

Besides the 2 ATP grass tournaments, there's a grass Challenger in Nottingham that I assume also kept its ranking points.  Besides the two previous reasons, I have to think biggest reason the ATP left Nottingham's points intact is that Challenger players (the tennis equivalent of minor leaguers) so desperately need ranking points.  All the players playing Nottingham had to commit by April 25 (commitment is 6 weeks in advance for all tournaments), yet the ATP made its announcement May 20, too late to back out & opt for another Challenger (3 others the same week).   If the ATP had stripped Nottingham of points, that would have massively screwed the players entered.

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I have been out of the sporting news loop for a couple of weeks. Has there been any talk of individual players boycotting Wimbledon on principle, especially since no ranking points will be on the line for them? What would really affect the AELTC financially is an absence of notable players to draw spectators to the event. Have any commercial sponsors pulled out?

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1 hour ago, Charlie said:

I have been out of the sporting news loop for a couple of weeks. Has there been any talk of individual players boycotting Wimbledon on principle, especially since no ranking points will be on the line for them? What would really affect the AELTC financially is an absence of notable players to draw spectators to the event. Have any commercial sponsors pulled out?

Any meaningful player boycott would have to be lead by the superstars.  As a die-hard fanboy, I follow all things Novak but haven't heard even a hint about him withdrawing from Wimbledon.  No buzz from any of the other big names either.  So far, all the top guys are still playing.  

News of the loss of ranking points just came out yesterday, maybe too early still to assess sponsorship impact.  My guess is that Wimbledon is so big and so prestigious that sponsors will stay put.  That would not have been the case with Queens and Eastbourne, whose sponsors would have ditched like they were running out of a burning building.  As controversial as the ATP's double standard is, as a pragmatic matter I have to agree with their decision to save those 2 smaller tournaments.

I thought only about last year's 4 semifinalists because they will lose the most points, but 2021 quarterfinalist Marton Fucsovics is probably hurt most by the no-points decision.  On his Instagram account, he claimed that his ranking will drop from #60 to #130 -- ouch!  #60 means direct entry into Slams and most ATP tournaments.  #130 means you have to play qualies everywhere, even the 250s.  Poor Marton, I will selflessly offer him a massage to make him feel better.

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18 minutes ago, sam.fitzpatrick said:

If the ATP isn't including points for Wimbledon, does that mean Wimbledon will no longer use the rankings to (a) admit players into the tourney or (b) for seeding?

2022 player entry is still done by rankings, except that Russians and Belarusians are locked out.  Now that Wimbledon lost its ranking points, they can do seedings based on whatever they want, but no announcement yet.  The old grass formula for men used to be a player's point total + 100% of points on grass from the previous year + 50% of grass points from 2 years ago.  That grass-weighted total adjusted seedings for the top 32 players but was not calculated for players outside the top 32.  For example, #40 on the ATP ranking couldn't get bumped up to #32 (and therefore get the last seed) thanks to strong grass results.  Anyway, because there was no 2020 tournament, they had to ditch the grass-adjusted formula in 2021 and just base seedings straight-up on rankings.

On the men's side, 4 Russians and 1 Belarusian are locked out.  The women's side is worse: 11 Russians and Belarusians (WTA website erased their nationality, so I can only count the total, not how many from each country) are denied entry.

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If you ever doubt the superstars' popularity, and therefore their influence over the sport, take a look at this standing-room-only crowd for one of Rafa's practices.  Most early-round matches are played in half-full at best stadiums, and in doubles even the final draws at most 20% attendance.

 

 

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  • 4 weeks later...
On 5/21/2022 at 6:07 PM, Charlie said:

I have been out of the sporting news loop for a couple of weeks. Has there been any talk of individual players boycotting Wimbledon on principle, especially since no ranking points will be on the line for them? What would really affect the AELTC financially is an absence of notable players to draw spectators to the event. Have any commercial sponsors pulled out?

With just 1 week before Wimbledon starts, the only 2 withdrawals on the men's side (don't follow the women as closely) are Alexander Zverev and Dominic Thiem,  both injury-related.  Zverev wrecked his ankle at Roland Garros, and Domi's wrist still isn't right, poor guy.  On the women's side, the most notable name in the draw is 7-time champion Serena, who hasn't played since she withdrew from Wimbledon last year due to injury.  Also, despite Rafa's chronic foot injury, he is planning to play.  If you're halfway to the calendar year Grand Slam and your archrival in the Slam race is playing Wimbledon, you're going to play even if you need to be wheeled onto Centre Court.

I haven't read anything about sponsors pulling out, but Wimbledon did increase prize money significantly, 15% more than last year and 6.2% more than 2019, the previous record-high year.  That's a good sign that sponsors stayed put.

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Osaka has withdrawn with injuries, Raducanu keeps retiring from matches with injuries, and Andrescu is just coming back from injuries, so US Open champs from recent years may not be much of a presence on the women's side. Serena hasn't played in a year, and she is 40 years old, so there will be lots of focus on her. Venus was not given a wild card, so she seems effectively retired. Serena's comeback actually starts today, when she will be playing doubles with Ons Jabeur in Eastbourne!

Wimbledon is probably increasing prize money to compensate players who would normally be drawn by ranking points.

 

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I just watched that doubles match. Serena arrived on court looking like she was wearing a tent. When she took it off, it revealed an outfit that was supposed to camouflage her increased weight, but it didn't work. She also had three black patches on the side of her face that were never explained; I assume they are bandage patches to cover something. Her play looked pretty rusty at first, but she and Jabeur ended up winning a very exciting long match.

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On 6/21/2022 at 2:35 PM, Charlie said:

I just watched that doubles match. Serena arrived on court looking like she was wearing a tent. When she took it off, it revealed an outfit that was supposed to camouflage her increased weight, but it didn't work. She also had three black patches on the side of her face that were never explained; I assume they are bandage patches to cover something. Her play looked pretty rusty at first, but she and Jabeur ended up winning a very exciting long match.

the tape was for her sinuses

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OK, this is the craziest Wimbledon in recent memory.  First Wimbledon bans Russian and Belarusian players.  Even if none of the banned players was a favorite or even a particularly strong contender for the singles titles, it still had a huge impact because so many players were shut out.  Now seeds on the men's side are dropping like flies, whether due to Covid like Berretini (my favorite to make the final from the bottom half) and Marin Cilic (my dark horse pick), unlucky 1R matchups (Felix Auger-Aliassime losing to the only true serve & volleyer in pro tennis), or too-high seedings (clay-courter Casper Ruud clueless on grass). 

Hurkacz, my favorite to make the semi against Novak, got upset by Alexander Davidovich, who lost his 2R match because he got a point penalty on match point!  A softy like Mo Lahyani might have pretended not to see that Davidovich hit a ball into the stands (which is supposed to be an automatic code violation) given that it was match point, but by-the-book Carlos Ramos (the umpire famous for giving Serena a point and game penalty in the US 2018 Open final) was umpiring the match.  In the humblest and quietest way possible, Davidovich asked Ramos why he got the point penalty, Ramos gave his explanation, and Davidovich walked away & took his lumps.  No screaming, no calling for the tournament supervisor, no racket-breaking tantrum -- just a surprising absence of drama following such an odd end to a match 

Perhaps unexpected but not that crazy is Serena's 1R loss to #115 Harmony Tan.  Even when she was dominating women's tennis, I doubt Serena could be sidelined for a year and come back to win a Slam without any warm-up tournaments.  And whaddya know.  Tan frustrated the hell out of Serena by chasing down so many balls, returning them deep with lots of slice but no pace.  Besides Tan, Serena was also fighting rust and nerves, and fighting all three at once turned out to be too much in the end.

Wow, with tons of drama, this Wimbledon feels like a roller coaster, and we haven't even gotten to the 3rd Round!

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20 hours ago, mike carey said:

Kyrgios: I don't have a coach, I wouldn't put that burden on anyone.

Canberra boy done good!

If Kyrgios had half of Novak's or Rafa's discipline and work ethic, he'd be number one in the world, he's that talented.  Let's see what kind of condition Rafa and his abdominal tear are in tomorrow.  Even a 100% fit Rafa might struggle against Nick.  An injured Rafa is toast.

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