Sloane Stephens backs ATP & WTA decisions to strip ranking points from Wimbledon

PARIS: American Sloane Stephens backed the ATP & WTA Tours' who decided to strip the upcoming Wimbledon tennis championships off ranking points. The 29-year-old, a member of the

player council

, said the call was in keeping with the principles that govern the Tour.

The

All England Lawn Tennis Club

banned Russian and Belarussian players from all grass court events in the UK, including Wimbledon.

"We worked really hard to try to make sure that everyone had a fair opportunity to play, at the end of the day that's not what happened," Stephens said. "We live in social media, people talking and tweeting all this stuff. I think the decision that was made was the best one for the Tour and for the players."

Stephens, the 2017 US Open champion, said she felt for players like

Karolina Pliskova

, who will not be able to defend the big points they earned from The Championships last summer.