“Personally, following not being able to play in Australia and not being able to defend my points at Wimbledon, it’s going to cost me 4,000 points. I am very negatively impacted by this. I’ve spoken to ATP management and the players’ council over the past few days and collectively I’m glad the players are together to show at Grand Slams that when a mistake is made, and it has been from the part of Wimbledon, there must be consequences. I support players, unification, I always have.
“They made a bad decision”
In recent days I have discovered that there is an English Government recommendations document for the All England Club where they have several options on the table. And they didn’t discuss anything with the ATP or with the players to see if there might be a compromise. They made a bad decision, I can’t stand it at all. It’s a super sensitive subject, and any decision brings conflict.
There were proposals like having Ukrainian, Russian and Belarusian players play together in an exhibition during the Grand Slam, or mixed doubles to give the prize money to the victims. There were other ideas, which were not exploited, and miscommunication came from Wimbledon. Was there a better solution than preventing players from taking or defending points? This is a unique and very strange situation.
Of course, a Grand Slam remains a Grand Slam, I dreamed of winning Wimbledon when I was young, I don’t look at it only through the prism of points or prize money. But once once more, there must be criteria, mutual respect. Some players will be more affected and protest more. It’s hard to tell what’s good and what’s not. It’s a lose-lose situation for everyone. But yeah, I’m planning to go to Wimbledon. »
