British number one Cam Norrie has expressed his disappointment over a rule that has benefited defending champion Novak Djokovic. Despite no ranking points on offer for this year's edition of Wimbledon, the Serbian winning at SW19 for the seventh time this summer, has guaranteed him a place at the ATP finals in Turin later this month.
This is despite the 21-time grand slam champion sitting just 10th in the ATP race to Turin rankings, which is outside one of the eight qualification spots. It is a key piece of regulation that has remained in place despite the grass-court grand slam taking place under unusual circumstances this summer.
Norrie would have gained 720 points for making the semi-finals at Wimbledon, and the lack of ranking recognition has jeopardised his chances of making the field in Turin. He slammed the rule as unfair and also mentioned the player Djokovic beat in the Wimbledon final - Nick Kyrgios.
“Novak obviously qualified from Wimbledon so that seems a bit strange,” said Norrie, who made the second round in Paris on Monday with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Serbia's Miomir Kecmanovic. “I don't know if that was the rule before or not, but its seems unfair, I guess for Nick Kyrgios as well.
“He lost in the final and he gets nothing. I knew that I hadn't had the points all along, but I was still in with pretty decent chance I thought.” The Australian lost out on 1,200 points for making the Wimbledon final, points that would have left him in great contention to make the season-ending championships in singles competition.
He alluded to this on Instagram when it was announced Kyrgios had qualified for the ATP finals doubles event alongside Thanasi Kokkinakis. “Should have been in singles as well…no points at Wimbledon,” he chuckled. “First time in 53 years but we won’t speak of that.” The 27-year-old’s agent Stuart Duguid added: “First and foremost, Novak deserves to be in Turin.
"But it feels arbitrary that he is the only player to benefit from his performances at Wimbledon. Players' endorsement contracts are affected by their year-end ranking and whether or not they qualify for the Finals. Many, such as Nick, will be out of pocket, whereas Novak has been made whole.”
Responding to the confusion regarding Djokovic’s ATP Finals qualification, an ATP spokesman said: “The removal of ranking points at this year's Wimbledon was done on the basis of fairness to all players, and no further rule changes linked to the competition's status were deemed necessary. As such, any player competing at Wimbledon or the other Grand Slams this year had the opportunity to qualify for Turin via the Grand Slam qualification rule."
Despite the setback, Norrie will endeavour to try as hard as possible to make the prestigious end of season event with the tournaments that remain. “I'd love to play, I think it's a pretty cool event,” he said. “I'm going to push as much as I can and hopefully try to help the team out to try to get in. It will be interesting to see how they do the list.”
