After a long wait, the governing body of Women’s tennis, WTA, has finally announced the stripping of ranking points for Wimbledon. The decision comes in as a show of protest by the WTA against Wimbledon’s decision to ban Russian and Belarusian players.

At the end of April, Wimbledon announced that it is banning Russian and Belarusian players from competing at this year’s Wimbledon. The decision came following the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine. The decision received massive criticism from the tennis community around the globe. Learning about the decision, a number of players raised their voices against the decision.

However, after no steps from Wimbledon, players came forward to appeal to the ATP and the WTA. They wanted to strip the ranking points from the tournament.

WTA’s big blow to Wimbledon

Following Wimbledon’s decision of banning Russian and Belarusian players, the apex bodies of men’s and women’s tennis had been receiving massive pressure from its players to take a step. While ATP is yet to announce its decision, WTA announced the announced that is backing up the player’s call.

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Recently, WTA Chief Executive Steve Simon held a heavily attended press conference. During the press conference, he announced that he was formally recommending the idea to WTA’s main board and the player’s council. He admitted that it was a response by the WTA towards Wimbledon’s decision to ban players. Assuming that the main board and player’s council agree upon Steve Simon’s call, SW19 will just remain an exhibition tournament for the women players.

Steve’s call to strip the ranking points comes in as an expectation raising step for the ATP, who is expected to give its decision later this week. On Monday night, ATP announced that they are keeping the ranking points for the build-up tournaments to Wimbledon. Presuming that the ATP comes out with the same call as the WTA, it would be a thing to see how Wimbledon react to it.

Till date, the officials of Wimbledon have been firm on their decision of keeping the ban. However, considering the massive loss Wimbledon could suffer because of the decision, it would be an interesting thing to see if Wimbledon retrieves its decision.

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