Wimbledon being stripped of ranking points branded 'not fair' by Matteo Berrettini
- Michael Graham
- 14 June 2022
Matteo Berrettini reached the final at Wimbledon last year, and that means he will be one of the players punished the most this year.
Berrettini reached the final at SW19 last year, so he will be one of the players most-affected when the points drop after this summer's edition.
In fact, it will see him fall out of the world's top 20, even if he goes one better and wins the tournament this year.
Understandably, that is something he is not very happy about.
"It's a really difficult situation to handle for everybody," Berrettini said. "First of all for the people suffering [in Ukraine].
"In my specific case it's really complicated because I played well last year on grass and it doesn't matter how well I play this year, my ranking is going to drop. I think that is not fair.
"[If] the ranking is working normally, the more you play, the better you play, the better your ranking is going to be.
"I think this was taken away, that's what I don't agree with."
Asked what the ATP could have done differently given the situation, Berrettini answered: "Maybe ask the players.
"Nobody contacted us, nobody asked us our opinion about it, and I think it shouldn't work like that.
"Maybe we should do something in order to avoid these kind of situations, because I think this is the biggest decision the ATP has taken in the last 20 years at least."
Despite the loss of ranking points and the obvious frustration for the players, Berrettini does not believe many, if any, will skip the tournament.
"It's a Slam," Berrettini said. "If I read it right it's going to be record prize money [there] this year as well.
"So, everybody's willing to play obviously, also because it's Wimbledon. It's one of the most important tournaments that we have.
"I don't see anybody saying 'Ok, I'm not going because there are no points'.
"I think it's affecting more the ones who have to defend [points] and the ones who can possibly gain a lot of points.
"For example, for me, reaching the semi-finals in the US Open changed my career, because then I qualified for the ATP Finals when it was [still] in London.
"[That] situation changed everything, so I think it's also not really fair for those players.
"But I don't think there are going to be any changes in the tournament.
"I think everyone will play with their best effort and it's going to be a great Wimbledon."
