Shapo criticizes move to punish Wimbledon, gets bounced in Paris
PARIS Denis Shapovalov is against the Wimbledon ban on Russian and Belarusian players, but he also disagrees with tennis’ governing bodies’ decision to strip the grass-court Grand Slam of ranking points, the Canadian world No. 15 said on Tuesday.
The men’s ATP and women’s WTA last week took away ranking points from Wimbledon after its organizers decided to exclude players from Russia and Belarus in the wake of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
Ranking points determine a player’s ability to enter tennis events and receive seedings, so stripping them from Wimbledon effectively reduces the event to an exhibition tournament.
Shapovalov, whose mother is from Ukraine and whose father is from Russia, reached the semifinals at Wimbledon last year.
He will be one of many players to be impacted by their inability to defend the points they earned last year at Wimbledon and will drop down the rankings.
“I don’t agree with either,” the 23-year-old former world No. 10 told Reuters. “I think first of all, if you have a pro competition, everybody should be competing. I completely understand the politics and the situation they’re in. But again, if you have a tennis tournament that’s supposed to have the best athletes in the world, it shouldn’t matter where you’re from.
“I also don’t agree with the ATP to take out all the points. The most guys it’s affecting are the guys in the top rankings.”
Japan’s four-time major champion Naomi Osaka said on Monday that she was “not 100 per cent sure” of playing Wimbledon without the ranking points.
Shapovalov said most of the players were not consulted before the decision and wished the ATP had not taken all points away from the tournament.
“It’s difficult. I think they could have gone with it a different way, maybe keep 50 per cent like they have in the past or some kind of fairness,” he said.
On the court, Shapovalov had a bad day, falling to Danish teenager Holger Rune in his opening round match.
Rune prevailed in the third set tiebreak to claim his first Grand Slam victory with a 6-3, 6-1, 7-6(4) demolition of Shapovalov, who made 53 unforced errors in the two-hour match.
The win was Rune’s second against a top-20 ranked player after the 19-year-old upset world No. 3 Alexander Zverev last month in Munich.
An emotional Jo-Wilfried Tsonga ended his 18-year professional career with a 6-7(6), 7-6(4), 6-2, 7-6(0) opening-round loss at his home Grand Slam to Casper Ruud at a packed Court Philippe-Chatrier.
Tsonga, alongside his family and former coaches, took centre stage for a ceremony to commemorate his career, with Roger Federer, Rafa Nadal and Novak Djokovic among those paying tribute to the Frenchman via video messages.
On the women’s side, former world No. 1 Angelique Kerber’s quest to win a career Grand Slam stayed alive with a dramatic threeset victory over Magdalena Frech of Poland, rallying for a 2-6, 6-3, 7-5 victory.