Rafa Nadal demanded the drastic course of action following a locker room backlash to the ban. Photo / Photosport
Wimbledon has been stripped of its ranking points by the ATP and WTA Tours as the tennis world dramatically escalated its response to the ban on Russian and Belarusian players.
On a humiliating day for British tennis, the ATP carried through with its threat to take action over the ban, with the women's tour following 45 minutes later. The upshot is that Wimbledon has effectively been reduced to an exhibition tournament.
The decision has wide-ranging ramifications for further tournaments in the UK with the WTA also removing ranking points from tournaments at Eastbourne, Birmingham and Nottingham.
Telegraph Sport last week told how the world's leading male players, led by Rafa Nadal, had demanded the drastic course of action following a locker room backlash to the ban.
And today Wimbledon is facing up to one of the biggest crises in its history. There seems little prospect of the All England Club backing down over its decision – but it could potentially escalate the row even further, if it managed to corral the other three major tournaments into setting up a new grand-slam rankings system of their own.
The ban on Russian and Belarusian players, first reported by Telegraph Sport in April, prohibits men's world No 2 Daniil Medvedev from playing at SW19. It had been thought that Wimbledon chiefs were keen to avoid the nightmare scenario of the Duchess of Cambridge presenting the trophy to a Russian player in the wake of Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine.
Culture secretary Nadine Dorries called for the tours to reconsider. "Given the importance of sport and cultural bodies in making the Russian Government an international pariah, we stand squarely behind the decision that Wimbledon and the LTA have taken to stand up for what is right.
"We deeply regret today's decision," she added, "and urge the ATP, WTA and the ITF to consider its stance on ranking points at the Championships. It does not send the right message to either Putin or the people of Ukraine."
Wimbledon organisers said they had "deep disappointment" at the removal of ranking points, but insisted they would stand firm. "We deeply regret the impact of this decision on the individuals affected," they added in a statement.
"We believe these decisions to be disproportionate in the context of the exceptional and extreme circumstances of this situation and the position we found ourselves in, and damaging to all players who compete on tour.
"We are considering our options, and we are reserving our position at this stage. We are also in discussion with our Grand Slam colleagues."
The confrontational response of the two tours has shocked many. On Wednesday, WTA chief executive Steve Simon unexpectedly told a remote meeting of players that he was recommending the removal of rankings points from Wimbledon.
Simon's position was all the more surprising given that ATP had previously declined to remove rankings points from the Lawn Tennis Association's events at Queen's and Eastbourne. Yet when one player asked whether a vote could be held – not only among the eight members of the WTA player council, which includes Belarusian star Victoria Azarenka, but across the entire workforce – the suggestion was ignored.
There are similar concerns among the men, where British No2 Dan Evans was among those who tried to gather wider support for Wimbledon to go ahead as normal. The ATP player council may have expressed near-unanimous backing for the removal of points last week, but supporters of the AELTC say that at least 90 players – across the two tours – were against it.
"We should be playing for ranking points at Wimbledon and it will be disappointing for me as a Brit if we're not," Evans told the BBC on Friday. "My issue is, nobody asked my thoughts. I don't think that is fair. It's not fair the Russians will miss out either. But it's a small minority and we're not able to get our opinions across."
For the last year or so, the seven governing bodies of tennis have been collaborating via the so-called "T7 working group", which was supposed to deliver a more unified governance for this famously atomised sport. But the faultlines have surely been widened by this bitter row.
Justifying their decision in a "Frequently Asked Questions" document posted on their website, the ATP said that "The bottom line is there were various options on the table, and a joint decision should have been reached together. Instead, the decision [to ban Russian and Belarusian players] was made in isolation."
Will this have a material effect on the tournament?
The £35-40m prize fund should be appealing enough on its own, even without the additional attraction of rankings points. You'll earn a minimum of £50,000 just for showing up. But there might also be those who lose motivation – whether to attend the tournament in the first place, or to fight to the last sinew when things get tough. For the fans, Wimbledon will always be Wimbledon. For the players, though, everything will be devalued this year.
Why were the other UK tournaments not stripped of ranking points?
This comes down to the players' narrow world view. Although Russian and Belarusian players have also been refused access to British grass-court build-up events such as Birmingham, Queen's and Eastbourne, there are alternative tournaments in Europe at that time which they can enter. Wimbledon, by contrast, dominates a whole fortnight. There's nowhere else to play at that time, and as a result, the ATP and WTA player councils have considered Wimbledon's stance to be more provocative.
Are the players united on the issue?
The two player councils seem to have been fairly united, but do they represent the entirety of the locker-room? There are only eight voting members on each, while sources claim that some 90 players have signed petitions asking for Wimbledon's rankings points to be retained this year. One of them is Dan Evans, the British No2, who told the BBC on Friday that "My issue is, nobody asked my thoughts. I don't think that is fair. It's not fair the Russians will miss out either. But it's a small minority and we're not able to get our opinions across."
Will any of the other Grand Slams follow Wimbledon's lead?
The French Open will start on Sunday with full participation for Russian and Belarusian players. It seems likely that the US Open and Australian Open will both follow the French model rather than the British one, especially as the British government's interventionist stance played a role in pushing Wimbledon down this path. Ultimately, the optics argument – which states that Vladimir Putin would make propaganda capital out of a Russian champion – applies more strongly at SW19 than anywhere else, because of Wimbledon's unique history and prestige.
Could this happen again next year?
It's tricky to say what will happen next week, let alone next year. The decision from the two tours is unlikely to stand there as a fait accompli. It will almost certainly be challenged, not only by the All England Club but by the grand slams as a collective. Even if the other three tournaments do not want to ban Russians and Belarusians themselves, they will stand behind Wimbledon's right to do so, and they will resent this provocative decision from the tours. In the most radical scenario, the controversy could prompt the slams to launch their own rankings system and turn the tennis world upside down.
The match featured windy conditions, making play challenging for both.