‘They Mainly Punished the Players’ – Karolina Pliskova Calls Out Tennis Bodies for Stripping Wimbledon Ranking Points

Czech tennis star Karolina Pliskova is one of the best female tennis players currently. The former world number 1 returned to the court after surgery on her right hand. And is searching for her old form.

Competing in the ongoing Roland Garros, the 30-year-old registered a brilliant comeback win against French wildcard Tessah Andrianjafitrimo. After losing the first set 2-6, Pliskova made a strong comeback to take the next two sets  6-3 and 6-1.

After the match, Karolina spoke about the recent WTA decision to strip Wimbledon of ranking points

Karolina Pliskova Expresses Her Disappointment Over Wimbledon Ranking Points Snub

Recently, tennis governing bodies for men’s and women’s tennis ATP and WTA announced separately that, due to Wimbledon’s discriminatory decision to ban Russian and Belarusian players, the upcoming Wimbledon Championship will be stripped of ranking points. However, the decision will impact the players who did well in the tournament previously. Certainly, the players who did well in the Grass court tournament are not liking the decision. Karolina Pliskova was the runner-up of last year’s Wimbledon and since the winner Ash Barty took a sudden retirement, Pliskova will be the one losing most of her points.

Talking about the decision from WTA, the 30-year-old has called it unfair. Expressing her disappointment, the current world number 8 said that she understands the reason behind doing this is to punish Wimbledon, but it will end up punishing the players who love the game.

“They punished Wimbledon maybe. But I think most of the players if you love the game, you’re still going to go and play. So I think they mainly punished the players, which I didn’t quite get why this decision.” She said.

Read more: Karolina Pliskova Suffers a Devastating Loss to World Number 292 at WTA Abu Dhabi 2021

Notably, the decision from WTA and ATP has been receiving a lot of flack from the tennis world, as it will directly affect their rankings and will turn the world’s most premium tennis tournament into a mere exhibition.

The Statement From WTA and ATP

In the separate statements, both WTA and ATP cited the ban of Russian and Belarusian tennis players as a breach of contract. And condemned the decision to discriminate based on nationality.

The WTA Chairman and CEO Steve Simon said that “The stance we are taking is about protecting the equal opportunities. That WTA players should have to compete as individuals.” 

Similarly ATP, in an official statement, said: “Discrimination by individual tournaments is simply not viable on a Tour that operates in more than 30 countries.”

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Although on a contractual front, WTA and ATP may take such a decision to punish Wimbledon. But thinking about the outcome, it will be the players who will suffer, eventually.