“If players were listened to, they would not understand this decision”

The biggest and most beautiful of the tennis tournaments, Wimbledon, will start next Monday in a special way in many ways. The most special thing is that no ranking points are awarded in the tournament.

The background is that Wimbledon decided to exclude Russian and Belarusian players from the tournament because of the Russian offensive war. Wimbledon thus took a different line than the men’s professional tour ATP and the women’s professional tour WTA.

In many sports, Russians and Belarusians have been ruled out, but in the ATP and WTA races they have been allowed to play, albeit without country codes. Wimbledon therefore decided otherwise, and the ATP and the WTA reacted by announcing that no ranking points would be awarded at Wimbledon.

This is justified by fairness.

Russians and Belarusians also do not have access to pre-Wimbledon tournaments in the UK. However, points are awarded in them. The ATP justifies this on the grounds that smaller tournaments could collapse completely if players did not receive ranking points from them.

In addition, there will be other tournaments in which the Russians can participate during those weeks. There are no ATP or WTA tournaments playing at the same time as Wimbledon.

So Wimbledon is in a way like a show tournament, like a top Japanese player Naomi Osaka stated. Money is distributed, but no ranking points. Of course, Wimbledon’s position is historically such that it is highly valued in any case.

Players have been confused about the situation.

– We play the tournament without points. When some players had Korona, the tournaments were not canceled. But when a few Russian players are left out, we start campaigning against Wimbledon. If players were listened to, they would not understand this decision, French Benoit Paire said in May when the decision was made.

There have been few absences from Wimbledon in protest. Osaka is left out, but has said the cause is an Achilles tendon injury. 2014 finalist Eugenie Bouchard is left out, but he has a good reason for it. Bouchard, who has been sidelined due to injuries, currently has no rankings at all.

He has a protective ranking that allows him to enter a certain number of races. However, it does not make sense to use it for a tournament that does not earn points.

Players who scored a lot of points in Wimbledon last season are now losing their points. The men’s tournament was won last summer Novak Djokovic. The women’s champion was Ash Bartywho has already ended his career.

Of course, the sufferers in terms of points are also those who are now doing well. One might be Harri Heliövaarawho play together Lloyd Glasspool have gone very well recently and especially on the lawns.

Heliövaara has already risen to 32nd place on the world list. No matter how far the pair goes in Wimbledon, there will be no points.

Heliövaara thinks the situation is awkward, but it’s not worth making it too big.

– It’s a difficult thing for everyone, both the race, the ATP and the players. There are no winners. On a personal level, it is annoying because we have good results from the grass fields, Heliövaara told Sport.

According to Heliövaara, however, the situation does not reduce the value of the race.

– Glory and prize money will be played and the Grand Slam winners will be celebrated just after the race. I’m not going to waste it. On the other hand, it has created an opportunity to focus really well on the pre-Wimbledon races, as they have points in the distribution.

All aspects of the game have worked at Heliövaara and Glasspool, but especially the feed has been in order. They have played five matches in the grass season so far and have not lost their own pass once.

The duo were in the final of the Queen’s Club tournament last week and they are playing in the Eastbourne race this week.

– We do a lot of the right things in our own feed shifts. We feed with a big percentage of one and we are very confident online.

– We have found good weapons for what is being done and we always know what kind of feed our partner is feeding. We avoid putting too much towards the opponent, which is a common tactic in doubles, but we boldly seek the corners of the putting box.

Last summer in Wimbledon, Heliövaara and Glasspool got in with a wild card. Now they are already stationed.

– It’s a completely different starting point. No one is looking to face us and we have a strong self-confidence.

For example, Russian players excluded from Wimbledon are number one on the men’s world list Daniil Medvedeveighth Andrei Rublev mixed Karen Hatshanov and Aslan Karatsev. Belarusians can not get to Wimbledon, among other things To Emil Ruusuvuori annoyingly familiar recently Ilya Ivashka.

Belarusian on the women’s side Aryna Sabalenka is sixth on the world list. Several Russian players will have to leave the tournament.

The ATP and WTA stress that they condemn the Russian attack and support Ukraine.