British No 1 Cam Norrie has slammed the decision to withdraw ranking points from Wimbledon, describing the 2022 tournament as an 'exhibition'.
Wimbledon bosses took the decision to ban Russian and Belarusian players from competing at SW19 following Vladimir Putin ’s invasion of Ukraine back in February.
The banning has since been met with mixed reviews, with plenty of the ATP and WTA playing quota less than impressed with the sanctions imposed on their Russian and Belarusian counterparts. Amid the fury, both Tours took the decision to strip the historic event of its ranking points for 2022 on Friday evening.
One man who clearly doesn’t share the same opinion though is Norrie, who fears the event will now fail to attract the world’s best players and have an 'exhibition' feel to it.
The British No. 1 said: "Wimbledon is still such a special event. But I think you’ll see top players not playing, just resting and getting ready for the hardcourt events. Especially those that don’t worry too much about the money. So I could see a lot of players, well maybe a few top players, not playing because of that.
"It’s an extremely difficult situation with everything going on with the war, but for me it's tough - having a home slam and not gaining any ranking points from that. You're not really playing for anything, you're playing this almost like an exhibition so for me it was tough to see.
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"There are not many tournaments on the grass already, and then suddenly there's no there's no points [at Wimbledon].” Norrie, meanwhile, has enjoyed an impressive run in recent months, and added another ATP crown to his CV after securing victory in Lyon last week.
The Brit has since moved to No 11 in the world rankings, and will be eyeing what would be an historic victory on the SW19 grass later this summer. The removal of ranking points though has of course tarnished what is arguably the biggest event on the tennis calendar.
Despite the tough stance being taken, Norrie believes the players themselves 'did not have much choice' on the decision. He added: "This changes the ranking system a lot. Players did not have much choice or information. I put my opinion forward to the council, I don't know if it meant anything."
