It has been a turbulent time for tennis amidst rising tensions in Eastern Europe. In the wake of this conflict, Wimbledon announced a ban on Russian and Belarusian players for this year’s tournament. However, the ATP and the WTA opposed this ruling, stripping the tournament of ranking points. Many players on the tour took a stand on this decision. American tennis star, Sloane Stephens was the latest one to talk about this situation.

Sloane Stephens comes out in support of the WTA

The 29-year-old is in Paris to participate in the French Open. During the post-match press conference after her first-round victory, Stephens opened up about the decision to strip Wimbledon of ranking points. She said, “I think the decision that was taken was the correct one. I think that there [are] a lot of things that happened behind the scenes that the press are not aware of, and I think there has been a lot of mishandling of how everything was handled. We will just go from there.”

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Further, she added, “I mean, obviously I support our CEO, I support my council, I support the players. The decision that’s been taken obviously wasn’t taken lightly. I think when you are backed into a corner and that’s all you can do, I think that’s why the decision was made, and I support it.” 

Sloane advances at the French Open 2022

The former US Open champion began her campaign at the clay-court Grand Slam tournament on a positive note. Yesterday, she defeated Jule Niemeier of Germany in a hard-fought three-set battle. The match didn’t begin according to Sloane’s plans as she lost the opening set 7-5. However, she came back strongly to level the match by winning the second set 6-4. Subsequently, the third set was a one-sided affair with Sloane winning it 6-2.

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In the second round, Sloane will take on Sorana Cirstea of Romania. Can she dig deep at the French Open 2022? Let us know your views in the comments below.