MY ACCOUNT
Former Wimbledon doubles champion Pam Shriver has said she does not disagree with the decision to ban Russian and Belarusian players from this year’s tournament.
Shriver landed 21 women’s doubles grand slam titles, of which 20 came in partnership with Martina Navratilova, and 112 career doubles titles in all, and she also claimed 21 singles tournament wins.
Russian and Belarusian players have been banned from this year’s Wimbledon due to the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Speaking to Stats Perform, Shriver – who won five women’s doubles championships with Navratilova at Wimbledon – said while she did not like that it was a decision that needed to be made, she did not object to it.
“War is messy, right? War is tragic. It’s been a horror show for Ukrainian people,” said American Shriver. “And there’s a lot of Ukrainian professional tennis players that are just living through hell.
“Obviously, the decision has been made to try and have the tightest of sanctions. So when you think about the industry of pro tennis, if we’re going to have sanctions as well, then Wimbledon [should too], and I understand the UK government has put some pressure throughout the country to not do business with Russians during this time.
“I wish they had never had to make the decision, but I think under the circumstances, I can’t say I disagree [with it].”
Shriver also said the decision from the ATP, WTA and ITF to remove ranking points from this year’s tournament was “really unfortunate”.
However, she does not believe it will make Wimbledon seem like an exhibition, saying: “It’s not an exhibition because of the prize money and because of the prestige of winning a Wimbledon title.
“Those are actually the two main things. I think the points are third, and so you’re missing the third most important aspect, but the prize money is huge, and [the tournament] will be just as prestigious as ever.”
As a result of the ban on Russian players, men’s world number one Daniil Medvedev will not be in attendance at SW19, but Shriver does not think it will diminish the competition.
“You know, maybe some years it would [be a problem that Medvedev is not there] but… you’re going to have the number one seed being [Novak] Djokovic and number two seed being [Rafael] Nadal,” she said.
“When you have the player who has more majors than anybody else ever in the men’s game at 22, Rafa, and you have Novak trying to win his fourth straight Wimbledon and his seventh overall and trying to chase Rafa’s 22, I think that’s going to hide the fact we don’t have a number one.
“It’s going to be an unusual year to not have rankings one and two [Medvedev and the injured Alexander Zverev], but I feel like the names on the men’s side, [Carlos] Alcaraz, [Matteo] Berrettini, [Hubert] Hurkacz got to the semis last year, the two Canadian guys [Felix Auger-Aliassime and Denis Shapovalov].
“I feel like there’s still such great depth and with Rafa and Novak leading the way, it’s fine.”
