“Wimbledon will never be or feel like an exhibition” Andy Murray claims the prestige of the Championships is bigger than some ranking points
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Andy Murray with the Wimbledon title
Andy Murray is a former world number 1 and has won the Wimbledon twice. He defeated Novak Djokovic in straight sets to earn the title in 2013 and then again repeated the same feat in the 2016 edition of the Championships, defeating Milos Raonic 6-4, 7-6(7-3), 7-6(7-2). Wimbledon is the oldest and most prestigious tournament in the world, but there is a lot of controversy surrounding Wimbledon 2022.
With the help of Belarus, Russia invaded Ukraine, and the war is still raging. The Ukrainians have been displaced, and the country lies in tatters. State-managed propaganda schemes overrun Russia, and sport is an important cog in the Russian propaganda machine. So, Wimbledon decided to ban both Russian and Belarusian players from the Wimbledon to avoid any complications of a situation arising that the Royals would have to award the players from the aforementioned countries.
Though this ban was very harsh on the innocent Russian and Belarusian athletes, who are neither state-sponsored nor are they at fault in the whole situation. The ATP and WTA’s warnings of strict actions came to fruition regarding the Wimbledon being stripped of ranking points. Many players have already shown reluctance to participate at the Championships if the prize money is lessened, and some have already decided to skip it due to no ranking points. The British tennis superstar Andy Murray gave his opinion on the matter.
Andy Murray believes Wimbledon is too prestigious not to play in any case.
Andy Murray, the two-time Wimbledon Champion, took to Twitter to voice his opinion, with the whole tennis atmosphere being filled with stress and indecision over who is going to play with no rankings on the table. The prize fund is also expected to take a dip, but Murray highlighted the prestige that’s associated with the oldest tournament in tennis.
“I’d hazard a guess that most people watching on centre court @Wimbledon in a few weeks time wouldn’t know or care about how many ranking points a player gets for winning a 3rd round match. But I guarantee they will remember who wins. @Wimbledon will never be an exhibition and will never feel like an exhibition. The end.”
Andy Murray is right in his assessment that the Wimbledon Champion will be remembered despite all the mess surrounding the competition, but for the players who are not the favorites to win, or the very low players ranked and come to the Wimbledon to earn handsome prize money and some ranking points, would be less motivated to play the Championships in 2022.
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Prateek Sinha
(365 Articles Published)