Monica Puig questioned tennis rules that allowed Novak Djokovic to qualify for the ATP Finals with the help of his Wimbledon title victory, while the same Wimbledon title did not help women’s singles champion Elena Rybakina‘s bid for WTA Finals qualification. Tennis fans criticized the sentiment, accusing the former Olympic gold medalist Puig of unnecessarily dragging Djokovic into the debate and not knowing the tennis rules.
The ATP and WTA operate under different rules on the matter, as they have for a long time. On the men’s circuit, a player only needs to be in the top 20 in the race to the ATP Finals, provided he has won a Grand Slam title. Whereas on the women’s circuit, the only qualification criteria are that the player needs to be in the top 8 of the WTA rankings ahead of the WTA Finals.
Puig’s doubts arose from the fact that Wimbledon did not carry ranking points at all and both the singles champions missed out on their points for winning the title, but it did help the Serb qualify for the ATP Finals as he is outside the top 8 in the ATP race.
Fans reacted to Puig’s comments, taking offense at her questioning Djokovic’s qualification, which has been by the rules.
“Man, djokovic really lives rent free in their head. Get well soon,” read a fan’s reaction on Twitter.
“Fight the wta, don’t include novak in your displeasure. He’s just a tennis player who’s had enough to fight for this year. Stop the hate,” another fan expressed.
Here are a few more reactions from tennis fans to Monica Puig’s comments:
Why is there a need to bring Djokovic into this? Seriously? It’s not ATP fault that your [email protected] WTA organisation is outdated and terrible. You’re an embarrassment. Like what is the point of this tweet? Reeks of jealously and bitterness. Pathetic stuff. What an utter clown you are twitter.com/monicaace93/st…
“Seems a bit strange” – Cameron Norrie on Novak Djokovic’s ATP Finals qualification
World No. 13 Cameron Norrie, who was in the race to qualify for the 2022 ATP Finals but recently dropped out of contention, called Novak Djokovic’s ATP Finals qualification “unfair” as the only way he was able to do so despite being outside the top 8 was by virtue of his Wimbledon title. Norrie said that he was unaware of the rule being in place for years, but still felt it was strange.
“(Novak Djokovic) obviously qualified from Wimbledon so that seems a bit strange. I don’t know if that was the rule before or not, but its seems unfair,” Norrie said, per the Daily Mail.
Norrie felt that he had a good chance of qualifying for the year-end championship, but a spot was taken away. The British player also lamented that Nick Kyrgios did not get a chance to qualify, despite making the Wimbledon final.
“I guess for Nick Kyrgios as well. He lost in the final and he gets nothing. I knew that I hadn’t had the points all along, but I was still in with pretty decent chance I thought,” Norrie said.