What a mess. With just five weeks to go before the start of the tournament, Wimbledon organisers are having to contemplate a potential fiasco. What in previous years was arguably the world’s greatest tennis tournament is at risk of becoming a fractious, politicised and potentially heavily boycotted iteration of itself.
Following a decision by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) and Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) to strip the tournament of ranking points in response to their ban on Russian and Belarusian players, Wimbledon could be reduced to a mere exhibition of arrogance, and short-sightedness. The tournament’s reputation may not recover for years. It is an unforced error of epic proportions.
Things are now going from bad to worse. The latest news is that Japanese star Naomi Osaka has hinted she’ll give Wimbledon a miss, wittily describing it as ‘pointless’. This is a heavy blow as Osaka, though not expected to challenge for the crown, is a huge draw, especially in Asia.
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