Rafael Nadal understands both sides of ATP-Wimbledon row

Wimbledon
Rafael Nadal

Former world No 1 Rafael Nadal has shared his view on Wimbledon’s position as well as the decision from the ATP to sanction the All England Championships.

Last month, Wimbledon announced it will impose bans on Russian and Belarusian players over the invasion of Ukraine.

On Friday the ATP as well as the WTA revealed that no ranking points will be awarded to Wimbledon 2022’s participants.

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Speaking after his first-round victory at the French Open on Monday, the 21-time Grand Slam winner Nadal said he understood both sides of the situation between tennis’ most popular event and the sport’s governing bodies.

“I understand both sides. I respect and I understand Wimbledon’s position, without a doubt, but on the other hand, I understand and I respect too that the ATP is protecting their members,” Nadal said.

“In our tour, every single player has a different opinion and that’s why we never achieve the things that we could achieve if we were together.

“In my opinion we players are not prepared well enough to make important decisions, because at the end it is an individual sport and everyone has their personal views in terms of how much profit they get from every single decision that ATP makes.”


Whilst Nadal has not played at Wimbledon for the last two years and thus won’t be affected, Novak Djokovic is the player who will be suffer the most as he will lose 2,000 ranking points as the defending champion.

There remain concerns about the possibility of the top players withdrawing from Wimbledon and instead focus on the North American hart court swing.

Nadal, meanwhile, has not shed any light on his participation at the All England club or not.

Rafael Nadal

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