“First deportation, now unjust point removal” Novak Djokovic fans hit out at ‘hypocrite’ ATP for snatching the Serb’s points from Wimbledon
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ATP Chief Andrea Gaudenzi, Novak Djokovic
World No. 1 Novak Djokovic gets dragged into an unwanted controversy once again after the latest announcements of ATP. The men’s tennis body on Saturday, 20th May 2022 announced its decision to strip the 2022 Wimbledon Championships of all of its points making the Grand Slam nothing but a mere exhibition event.
The decision was announced in light of the decision of LTA and Wimbledon to ban all Russian and Belarusian players from playing in this year’s Grasscourt events in the UK as the Russian attempt to invade Ukraine continues for almost three months now. The ATP and WTA had expressed their disappointment in the decision as the players were in no way involved in the war but the two tennis bodies in the UK did not budge and remained adamant about their decision.
As a result, the ATP has now taken away the points from Wimbledon while other Tour events could continue to hold the points as the Russian and Belarusian players could well participate in events out of the UK during the build-up to Wimbledon. With no ranking points for this year’s edition, the ATP however said that all players will drop points they hold from the 2021 edition which would be a major hit on players who made deep runs.
The biggest hit will be taken by Djokovic as he was last year’s champion and will lose his 2000 ranking points without any chance to defend them. This will be his second loss in a Grand Slam as the 2022 Australian Open also had the Serbian as the defending champion but due to his deportation, he was not allowed to play and lost all of his 2000 points without any chance despite him being a 3-time defending champion.
Novak Djokovic’s fans express their anger with the ATP
The decision by ATP was to protect the Belarusian and Russian players who as per ATP were being discriminated against and as a result of stripping the points from the Grand Slam, the players from the two nations will not lose their ranks. But with the ranking points being deducted this year, Djokovic could well drop down to World No. 3 and Daniil Medvedev, if able to hold his position as the World No. 2 till Wimbledon could rise to World No. 1 due to this.
Also Read: How will Wimbledon prize money be affected after ranking points get removed by ATP and WTA?
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Sarthak Shitole
(3462 Articles Published)