The WTA misses the mark in attempting to fine Wimbledon

The WTA has jumped the fence over to the wrong side of history with its decision to punish Wimbledon (and Great Britain’s Lawn Tennis Association) for excluding Russian and Belarusian players from this year’s tournament, a move taken in response to Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.

The tour’s attempt to fine those British institutions $1 million (three-quarters of which is levied at the tournament) comes at a time when the war crimes and horrors committed by Russia in Ukraine are manifest, documented and broadcast on all forms of media. It was bad enough that the WTA and ATP (which is strangely silent on the WTA’s move) decided to challenge Wimbledon’s action by eliminating the critical rankings points players earn at the event. This latest attempt to flex political muscle is misplaced and dangerous.

The WTA seems more concerned with protecting the “rights” of an elite cohort of players than supporting a global effort to combat Russia’s terrorism. A mere two-week interruption of the highly remunerative careers of Aryna Sabalenka, Daria Kasatkina, Victoria Azarenka and others is a small price to pay for doing the right thing at a crucial moment in world history. Each of those women can earn as much in any of the other 50 weeks as most people make in a year.

This is a sad state of affairs. The WTA was formed to level the playing field in pro tennis, giving women opportunities equal to those available to men. The organization has been successful doing that, and deserves credit for it. The WTA has been present for women in general for decades. And it stepped up, big-time, in the case of Peng Shuai. In addition to pressing Chinese authorities for information about Peng, the WTA canceled its Asian swing.

That pro-active response only makes the WTA’s current posture look that much more callous in light of the carnage in Ukraine. No, those players mentioned above are not responsible for the invasion. But according to Lesia Tsurenko, the Ukrainian WTA player, only one Russian or Belarussian player has shown adequate grace during this crisis by being privately supportive of their Ukrainian peers.

“I haven't heard from anyone else that they are against the war,” Tsurenko told reporters at Wimbledon. “So I don't know their opinion about that, and [but] not speaking to me and not saying to me anything, makes me feel bad and creates this tension inside of me.”

But condemning the indifference of the players doesn’t get us very far, or solve anything. The WTA, on the other hand, can and should be called out and held responsible for its myopic self-interest. In working for the benefit of an elite group of privileged athletes it is actively undermining efforts to combat Russia’s aggression. You want to fine Wimbledon for trying to do something to top the horror, even after colluding with the ATP and stripping away the rankings points? Really?

The loss of rankings points has done far more to muddy rather than clarify the true pecking order in tennis. It is punishing rather than rewarding players for their success, creating something of a “Novak Djokovic died for our sins” scenario. Djokovic, the defending Wimbledon champion, will lose the 2,000 rankings points he earned in London last year at the end of Wimbledon, but even if he wins this year’s event, he will be unable to add the customary 2,000 points due to the champ. So he’s looking at a potential 4,000-point swing, more than the total points owned by players ranked outside the Top 8.

“Now I'm not really chasing the ranking as much as I have, until I was breaking record for longest weeks at No. 1,” Djokovic said earlier this week at Wimbledon. “Then after that it just wasn't as I think important in terms of priority for me.”

The ATP should thank its lucky stars that Djokovic is so complacent about the rankings. Others, however, are less so. Take someone like Ajla Tomljanovic. She reached her first major quarterfinal at Wimbledon last year. She made it again this year. But her ranking will still drop from No. 44 into the 70s by Monday. Others are in similar straits.

“In terms of the response from the ATP, [and WTA],’ Andy Murray said at Wimbledon. “I didn't really agree with it [eliminating points]. I just don't see who it helps. All the players have still showed up to play here, so. . . I don't see how it puts the ATP in a stronger position moving forwards.”

The ATP and WTA are trying to flex and show that they have political clout despite the overwhelming status of Grand Slam events, and especially Wimbledon. We get that. But there are far more important things at stake at the moment.

When a reporter asked Ukraine’s Anhelina Kalinina what her second-round Wimbledon match with her compatriot Tsurenko might mean for people in her “home country,” she replied: “I don't know what it means to them. I think they have much more important things. . .sorry. . . than our tennis match.”

The WTA also should have more important things to worry about than Wimbledon’s effort to halt the devastation of Ukraine.