Shapovalov finds fault with both Wimbledon and ATP decisions - The Globe and Mail | Canada News Media
Connect with us

Sports

Shapovalov finds fault with both Wimbledon and ATP decisions – The Globe and Mail

Published

 on


Denis Shapovalov celebrates a point against Holger Rune of Denmark during the Men’s Singles First Round match on Day 3 of the French Open at Roland Garros on May 24, 2022, in Paris, France.Adam Pretty/Getty Images

Denis Shapovalov is against the Wimbledon ban on Russian and Belarusian players, but he also disagrees with tennis’ governing bodies’ decision to strip the grasscourt Grand Slam of ranking points, the Canadian world number 15 said on Tuesday.

The men’s ATP and women’s WTA last week took away ranking points from Wimbledon after its organisers decided to exclude players from Russia and Belarus in the wake of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

Ranking points determine a player’s ability to enter tennis events and receive seedings, so stripping them from Wimbledon effectively reduces the event to an exhibition tournament.

Shapovalov, whose mother is from Ukraine and whose father is from Russia, reached the semi-finals at Wimbledon last year.

He will be one of many players to be impacted by their inability to defend the points they earned last year at Wimbledon and will drop down the rankings.

“I don’t agree with either,” the 23-year-old former world number 10 told reporters after his first-round exit from the French Open. “I think first of all, if you have a pro competition, everybody should be competing.

“I completely understand the politics and the situation they’re in. But again, if you have a tennis tournament that’s supposed to have the best athletes in the world, it shouldn’t matter where you’re from.

“I also don’t agree with the ATP to take out all the points. The most guys it’s affecting are the guys in the top rankings.”

Japan’s four-time major champion Naomi Osaka said on Monday that she was “not 100% sure” of playing Wimbledon without the ranking points.

Shapovalov said most of the players were not consulted before the decision and wished the ATP had not taken all points away from the tournament.

“It’s difficult. I think they could have gone with it a different way, maybe keep 50% like they have in the past or some kind of fairness,” he said.

“It’s difficult for the players when you don’t have a chance to defend and especially on a surface like grass where it (the season) is already so short and the players that play well on that surface they don’t have that many opportunities to make points, so you take a huge chunk of it out, it’s super difficult for players.”

Russian Andrey Rublev said Wimbledon broke an agreement with the ATP over players’ participation at the major and the world number seven implored the men’s tour and the grasscourt tournament’s organizers to come together to save the sport.

“When you have a deal, you cannot break it. And they did it,” he told reporters. “When we have a toxic relationship like now, only the bad things can happen.

“Even if, I don’t know, Wimbledon, they go together with other Slams and try to create another tour, it will only destroy tennis.” (Reporting by Sudipto Ganguly; Editing by Hugh Lawson and Toby Davis)

Adblock test (Why?)



Source link

Continue Reading

Sports

Lawyer says Chinese doping case handled ‘reasonably’ but calls WADA’s lack of action “curious”

Published

 on

 

An investigator gave the World Anti-Doping Agency a pass on its handling of the inflammatory case involving Chinese swimmers, but not without hammering away at the “curious” nature of WADA’s “silence” after examining Chinese actions that did not follow rules designed to safeguard global sports.

WADA on Thursday released the full decision from Eric Cottier, the Swiss investigator it appointed to analyze its handling of the case involving the 23 Chinese swimmers who remained eligible despite testing positive for performance enhancers in 2021.

In echoing wording from an interim report issued earlier this summer, Cottier said it was “reasonable” that WADA chose not to appeal the Chinese anti-doping agency’s explanation that the positives came from contamination.

“Taking into consideration the particularities of the case, (WADA) appears … to have acted in accordance with the rules it has itself laid out for anti-doping organizations,” Cottier wrote.

But peppered throughout his granular, 56-page analysis of the case was evidence and reminders of how WADA disregarded some of China’s violations of anti-doping protocols. Cottier concluded this happened more for the sake of expediency than to show favoritism toward the Chinese.

“In retrospect at least, the Agency’s silence is curious, in the face of a procedure that does not respect the fundamental rules, and its lack of reaction is surprising,” Cottier wrote of WADA’s lack of fealty to the world anti-doping code.

Travis Tygart, the CEO of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency and one of WADA’s fiercest critics, latched onto this dynamic, saying Cottier’s information “clearly shows that China did not follow the rules, and that WADA management did nothing about it.”

One of the chief complaints over the handling of this case was that neither WADA nor the Chinese gave any public notice upon learning of the positive tests for the banned heart medication Temozolomide, known as TMZ.

The athletes also were largely kept in the dark and the burden to prove their innocence was taken up by Chinese authorities, not the athletes themselves, which runs counter to what the rulebook demands.

Despite the criticisms, WADA generally welcomed the report.

“Above all, (Cottier) reiterated that WADA showed no bias towards China and that its decision not to appeal the cases was reasonable based on the evidence,” WADA director general Olivier Niggli said. “There are however certainly lessons to be learned by WADA and others from this situation.”

Tygart said “this report validates our concerns and only raises new questions that must be answered.”

Cottier expanded on doubts WADA’s own chief scientist, Olivier Rabin, had expressed over the Chinese contamination theory — snippets of which were introduced in the interim report. Rabin was wary of the idea that “a few micrograms” of TMZ found in the kitchen at the hotel where the swimmers stayed could be enough to cause the group contamination.

“Since he was not in a position to exclude the scenario of contamination with solid evidence, he saw no other solution than to accept it, even if he continued to have doubts about the reality of contamination as described by the Chinese authorities,” Cottier wrote.

Though recommendations for changes had been expected in the report, Cottier made none, instead referring to several comments he’d made earlier in the report.

Key among them were his misgivings that a case this big was largely handled in private — a breach of custom, if not the rules themselves — both while China was investigating and after the file had been forwarded to WADA. Not until the New York Times and German broadcaster ARD reported on the positives were any details revealed.

“At the very least, the extraordinary nature of the case (23 swimmers, including top-class athletes, 28 positive tests out of 60 for a banned substance of therapeutic origin, etc.), could have led to coordinated and concerted reflection within the Agency, culminating in a formal and clearly expressed decision to take no action,” the report said.

WADA’s executive committee established a working group to address two more of Cottier’s criticisms — the first involving what he said was essentially WADA’s sloppy recordkeeping and lack of formal protocol, especially in cases this complex; and the second a need to better flesh out rules for complex cases involving group contamination.

___

AP Summer Olympics:

Source link

Continue Reading

Sports

French league’s legal board orders PSG to pay Kylian Mbappé 55 million euros of unpaid wages

Published

 on

 

The French league’s legal commission has ordered Paris Saint-Germain to pay Kylian Mbappé the 55 million euros ($61 million) in unpaid wages that he claims he’s entitled to, the league said Thursday.

The league confirmed the decision to The Associated Press without more details, a day after the France superstar rejected a mediation offer by the commission in his dispute with his former club.

PSG officials and Mbappé’s representatives met in Paris on Wednesday after Mbappé asked the commission to get involved. Mbappé joined Real Madrid this summer on a free transfer.

___

AP soccer:

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

Source link

Continue Reading

News

Reggie Bush was at his LA-area home when 3 male suspects attempted to break in

Published

 on

 

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Former football star Reggie Bush was at his Encino home Tuesday night when three male suspects attempted to break in, the Los Angeles Times reported Wednesday.

“Everyone is safe,” Bush said in a text message to the newspaper.

The Los Angeles Police Dept. told the Times that a resident of the house reported hearing a window break and broken glass was found outside. Police said nothing was stolen and that three male suspects dressed in black were seen leaving the scene.

Bush starred at Southern California and in the NFL. The former running back was reinstated as the 2005 Heisman Trophy winner this year. He forfeited it in 2010 after USC was hit with sanctions partly related to Bush’s dealings with two aspiring sports marketers.

___

AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl

___

Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here. AP college football: and

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

Source link

Continue Reading

Trending

Exit mobile version