Former finalist withdraws from Wimbledon amid Russia-ranking points row
Ex-Wimbledon finalist Eugenie Bouchard will not play in the 2022 edition of the tennis grand slam with the ATP and WTA stripping it of ranking points influencing her decision.
The men's and women's tours decided to take ranking points away from the British summer spectacle after its organizers the All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC) banned Russian athletes as a response to their country's military operation in Ukraine.
This means that world number one men's player Daniil Medvedev cannot feature in London this year, with number two rival Novak Djokovic criticizing the ban which he, the ATP and the WTA find discriminatory.
Other figures such as former women's world number one Naomi Osaka have suggested they might skip Wimbledon due to it effectively becoming an "exhibition" event, and Bouchard has taken a similar stance with her withdrawal.
Bouchard, who once rose as high as number five in the WTA rankings, has recently dropped out of them after having surgery on her right shoulder in June last year following an injury she picked up earlier in 2021 at the Guadalajara Open.
In a statement on social media, she revealed that she only gets a limited number of protected ranking (PR) entries meaning she must "choose wisely" when it comes to tournaments that will help her "get back to where I want to be".
Wimbledon 2022 pic.twitter.com/I4MMGPkfvv
— Genie Bouchard (@geniebouchard) June 17, 2022
"As much as I love Wimbledon and skipping it makes me sad, using a PR entry at a tournament with no ranking points doesn't make sense," she explained.
Bouchard added that she is continuing her training and rehab, and plans on returning to competitions later this summer.
"I will now use my two Grand Slam PR entries for the US Open and the Australian Open," she concluded, before thanking fans for their support.
After making the semi-finals of the Australian Open and French Open in 2014, Bouchard then got to the final at Wimbledon where she lost to Petra Kvitova but has been unable to recapture such success.
While ranking points aren't on offer at Wimbledon, record prize money of £40.35 million ($50 million) is with the women's and men's singles champions taking home equal pay of £2 million ($2.5 million).
