Tennis Picks 2022 (April 22nd)

The weather in Barcelona meant only a couple of matches were able to be completed and it does mean a very busy day is set to be played at the tournament on Friday.

That meant some of the Tennis Picks will have to wait to be completed after a tough Thursday at the Belgrade Open.

There are a couple of big tournaments being played this week, but the main Tennis story of the week has to be the decision made by Wimbledon to ban players from Russia and Belarus from competing.

It means the event will be missing some of the biggest names on the Tour- Aryna Sabalenka and Daniil Medvedev may have felt like genuine contenders to win the title in SW19- and I think there will be plenty around the tournament are offering themselves congratulations from separating from the pack.

Let's make that clear, the rest of the Tour is unaffected and it is Wimbledon and the UK tournaments which have felt they needed to make this statement.

Personally I have always felt that Tennis in the United Kingdom has been a sport which has largely been one catered for the Middle to Upper class, which means catered to a certain 'look' of a person.

I am not someone who has that look in all honesty.

The whole idea of a 'Royal Box' makes that point for the masses- Wimbledon is stuck in the past, whether that is the dress code or whether that is the arrogance of acting like they are the most important tournament in the world.

I feel this decision to ban players is made from an arrogant, 'we are better than you', angle as they go against the rest of the Grand Slam events and the two Tours.

It is a remarkable decision as far as I am concerned and sets a dangerous precedent- I am assuming Wimbledon are now going to be the moral guardians of the tennis world and so I would like to know what they are going to do about any Chinese players considering the treatment of the Uyghurs over there?

I am assuming a ban or is it that a certain shade of human being has to be affected before a stand is made?

Do you see how quickly politics and sport becomes a murky line to tread?

I am not sure how you can ban players for actions of their government and what exactly Wimbledon expects individuals to do? I've heard the nonsense from some suggesting the Russian and Belarusian players have to made big statements saying how much they oppose the war being raged, but I honestly don't understand this mindset.

Again, it feels murky and raises so many other questions and becomes a moment where Wimbledon are going to leave themselves open to be judged when they fail to act on other events happening all over the world.

This just feels like a really poor decision made by All England Club and I do think the LTA have made a big mistake too. Where they may have thought they would be applauded for taking the lead, I think they have just shown themselves to be hypocrites and the long feeling that the sport in the UK is catered for caucasians with money is hard to shift here.

In saying all that I think there has been enough pushback to believe there will be a reversal from Wimbledon and the LTA before the grass court season comes around. Criticism has been coming from several places and I think there will definitely be a re-evaluation of the decision.

It just feels wrong to ban individuals who are not representing their nations- so I understand why UEFA and FIFA have made their decisions, while I think the Davis Cup and Billie Jean King Cup organisers had to do the same. But Tennis is not a team sport and these athletes largely represent themselves, while I think these tournaments have long wanted to separate politics from their sports (else they wouldn't be playing big tournaments in China would they?).

Things will certainly become clearer next week when there are supposedly further talks set to take place, but I couldn't be more against the Wimbledon decision right now.

On Friday the majority of my Tennis Picks are from the matches that were supposed to be played on Thursday, but the weather decimated the schedule.

There are a number of Quarter Final matches being played at the three other tournaments that have been scheduled for this week, but my sole selection comes from Belgrade.

MY PICKS: Fabio Fognini - 2.5 Games @ 1.91 Bet Fred (2 Units)

Weekly Update; 6-10, - 9.10 Units (32 Units Staked, - 28.43% Yield)