GAMEOVER wrote:

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Have the Ukrainians not got quite  the same problem playing  in a tournament with Russians as we have with Russians playing in British tournaments? In the Liberna Open in Holland  there are 21 direct entries with 6 Russians and 2 Belarussians. There are also 2 direct entry  Ukrainians in Kalinina and Yastremska  and 2 others in qualifying. There are no Russians in the  similar tournament at  Nottingham but all the Ukrainians opted for Holland. The only thing today is that Marta Kostyuk playing in a doubles match in Rome against  a Russian pairing walked out to take a MTO and never came back. The way things are looking the biggest losers  in the current climate will be British tennis and the British economy. . 

-- Edited by GAMEOVER on Thursday 12th of May 2022 03:20:20 PM

-- Edited by GAMEOVER on Thursday 12th of May 2022 03:24:01 PM

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 Yes, looks like might be a big miscalculation by our authorities But hey we will have made our empty gesture.

JonH comes home wrote:

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ok, so the Russian Tennis Federation President has waded in - this now makes it clearly political and, IMHO, makes the ban even more necessary

twitter.com/ukrtennis_eng/status/1524830061886590977

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The British ban will have very little effect on the big picture ( and of course I am very much aware* of the big horrible picture ), particularly if in isolation. Indeed the Russians will probably make out that any points denial is yet a further show of support. Was easily avoidable but we had to posture unilaterally with our err moral credentials and we look likely to have a bit of a mess.

* of course I am not fully aware of the full goings on, relying on news reports with what info they have but what I mean is that I am most certainly aware enough to be taking account of how little tennis really matters here in my ongoing criticism of the British authorities' unilateral ban.

-- Edited by indiana on Friday 13th of May 2022 10:25:19 AM

nicofrance wrote:

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Still no decisions from the ATP and WTA which I think is encouraging . If the points removal was a done deal surely they would have agreed this already .

Is it possible they could come to a compromise , lower the ranking points on offer and caveat that with if this happens again there will be a full removal .

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 clearly they will need to negotiate something that does several things a) punishes the British events for breaking their contracts b) they dont want to die over this principle, I suggest, given Wimbledon is a big prizemoney event for the players, partic the lower ranked ones, so they will want to ensure it is played and is meaningful c) the WTA have already announced entries for Nottingham and the Dutch event; they clearly want to be aligned with each other and the WTA doing that suggests they want the events to continue. 

The two clear options, to me, and from what I read from people like Mike Dickson, Jon Wertheim, are either freezing the Russians points or halving the points on offer on the British grass events. 

Although I favoured freezing Russians points, this doesnt hurt Wimbledon (not that I want to hurt Wimbledon, remember, I support the ban) as an outcome so probably wont do what they want. Halving the points does that, at least in theory - the money on offer wont be impacted in this scenario, the real world kudos of winning Wimbledon wont be impacted either, no player is realistically going to think less of winning a slam with 1000 points or 2000 points on offer. But it will look like it has hurt them and retained some degree of face for all.

What it might do though is still impact where players choose to enter as warm up events. I am thinking Queens and Eastbourne here, would players enter a ATP125 out of choice versus Mallorca the same week at 250? Or a Queens 250 v Halle 500? For the Challengers, I think this is less likely to be an issue as they are bottom of the pile and will remain bottom!

I suspect that and maybe some haggling over statements and wording, and ensuring that in the process the Slams dont break rank and go their own way again. Suspect these things are taking their time, outside of the actual penalty we will see imposed.    

Madadman wrote:

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Noticeable that the first British tournament of the grass season with ATP points being Surbiton still doesn't have an entry list released. Entry Deadline is normally 21 days before maindraw starts which would have been Monday. Could easily assume this is linked to the points situation.

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 Yeah, all of the CHallengers that should have been released today are put back to next week now, 16th earliest.

Stuttgart ATP 250 should have been released earlier this week - the Dutch event for men that week has been - but Stuttgart is also held back. 

IF they do halve the points on offer, be interesting to see where Cam, Dan, Andy choose to play - Queens or Halle, Eastbourne or Mallorca (or skip that week). Or the women, would Emma stay with Birmingham (presumably so given the publicity) and Eastbourne (not sure what the womens side has up against Eastbourne, is it an Italian event at 125 level?) 

JonH comes home wrote:

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Madadman wrote:

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Noticeable that the first British tournament of the grass season with ATP points being Surbiton still doesn't have an entry list released. Entry Deadline is normally 21 days before maindraw starts which would have been Monday. Could easily assume this is linked to the points situation.

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 Yeah, all of the CHallengers that should have been released today are put back to next week now, 16th earliest.

Stuttgart ATP 250 should have been released earlier this week - the Dutch event for men that week has been - but Stuttgart is also held back. 

IF they do halve the points on offer, be interesting to see where Cam, Dan, Andy choose to play - Queens or Halle, Eastbourne or Mallorca (or skip that week). Or the women, would Emma stay with Birmingham (presumably so given the publicity) and Eastbourne (not sure what the womens side has up against Eastbourne, is it an Italian event at 125 level?) 

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