“It wasn’t a unanimous decision” Lucas Pouille criticizes ATP as he becomes become the first player to boycott Wimbledon

Lucas Pouille

Wimbledon’s ban on the Russian and Belarusian players citing the Russia-Ukraine war was received with a lot of criticism from the players and tennis federations alike. The ATP and the WTA decides to escalate the matters by stripping Wimbledon of the ranking points saying that it was for the protection of the rights and interests of the professional tennis players.

The blowout of these very big decisions by both Wimbledon and the Professional Tennis Associations has been huge. Since the Championships lost the ranking points, and the prize money is also supposed to take a dip, many players have been reluctant about playing at the tournaments. Though most of them have not been very clear with their decisions, some of them like Fabio Fognini, Naomi Osaka, and Lucas Pouille.

Also Read: “Roland-Garros is quite legendary”- Former Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane marks his presence at French Open 2022

FS Video

Lucas Pouille reveals that the decision by ATP was not uninanimous.

Lucas Pouille the former world number 10 and the Australian Open semifinalist has clarified his stance on the Championships. He said commenting on the decision of ATP:

“I was in no way associated with his decision which I do not agree with. I understand the frustration of the Russian players and the injustice of it, I know they have nothing to do with it, but now there is an injustice for 240 players instead of 12. We can’t all pay the consequences. I do not know how the players are going to react.”

“It was never a unanimous decision, that I know. We don’t even know if there was a vote. In any case, all the players I have spoken to are against it. It will still remove the fervor from the tournament. At Wimbledon, I imagine they are not going to let it go like that. The prize money will not be the same as expected, it will be reduced.”

“I had decided initially to not play Wimbledon before saying to myself: ‘No, it is still a Grand Slam, you are going to go’ and I signed up for the grass-court tournaments. But I think that I won’t go.”

Many players are expected to pull out given the conditions but, Wimbledeon’s prestige should be incentive enough enough for top players to compete for the Grand Slam title.

Also Read: “Who has been this dominant?” Pam Shriver draws a parallel between Iga Swiatek’s winning streak to that of Serena Williams and Novak Djokovic

Also Read: “The new generation is great but we will keep pushing him,” Zinedine Zidane picks Rafael Nadal as the favorite to win the French Open amidst talks of NextGen stepping up

Follow our page FirstSportz Tennis for the latest updates