British No1 Cameron Norrie believes top players could boycott Wimbledon

Wimbledon workers being fired over trivial incidents to 'balance the books'

Image of Wimbledon tennis courts. Credit: Google maps - Hawel Klark

The world’s top tennis players could boycott Wimbledon this July according to British No1 Cameron Norrie.

Cameron Norrie, Britain’s 26-year-old No1 men’s tennis player has voiced his belief this Tuesday, May 24, that top players could well give Wimbledon a miss this July. His comments came as a result of last week’s ruling by the ATP and WTA Tours to strip ranking points from the tournament.

As reported by uk.yahoo.com, Norrie was speaking with the press in Paris, where he is competing in the French Open, fresh from winning the Lyon Open last week, and is the No. 10 seed at Roland-Garros.

“Wimbledon is still such a special event. But I think you’ll see a lot of top players not playing, just resting and getting ready for the hard-court events. Especially those that don’t worry too much about the money”, he told reporters.

This prediction from Norrie can only set alarm bells ringing at the All All England Club. Wimbledon historically is one of the most prestigious events in the annual tennis calendar, and to lose its top attractions could be a huge blow.

Money is never a problem at Wimbledon, with around £40million to play for this year. Even losing in the first round, a men’s singles player could pick up £50,000. As the British No1 pointed out though, some of the top stars simply don’t need the money.

“Obviously it’s an extremely difficult situation with everything going on with the war, but for me, it’s tough. You’re not really playing for anything”, he remarked. “This changes the ranking systems a lot. They’ve taken away almost 5,000 points from the whole system out of nowhere, so it’s gonna interfere with the rankings, and then a lot of players that did well at Wimbledon last year are going to be dropping”.

At the original May 9 ATP Player Council meeting, the stripping of rankings points from Wimbledon was given almost unanimous support. “Players not on the council did not have much choice or information on the fact”, Norrie continued.

“Obviously Wimbledon went ahead and made the statement first. No one had a choice in that. Then the ATP went and did that. I put my opinion forward to the council. I don’t know if it meant anything. Not a letter. I was just saying: ‘I think there should be points in Wimbledon this year'”.

He concluded, “I understand the situation is tricky, and there are complications everywhere. But, for me, that’s how I feel”.

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Written by

Chris King

Originally from Wales, Chris spent years on the Costa del Sol before moving to the Algarve where he is a web reporter for The Euro Weekly News covering international and Spanish national news. Got a news story you want to share? Then get in touch at editorial@euroweeklynews.com

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