Wimbledon’s Russian player ban will have statistical repercussions for tennis, with world No. 1 Daniil Medvedev set to be missing from the field.
To make matters worse, second-ranked Alexander Zverev will also be a no-show as the German who rolled his right ankle in a French Open semi-final against Rafael Nadal recovers after surgery this week.
The high-profile absences will mark the first time since Roland Garros 1999 that the top two have failed to front up for a Grand Slam.
The lack of the elite players appears to have been more frequent in the pre-1980 period, with the French Open going without in No. 1 and No. 2 in 1974, 1975, 1977.
The Australian Open was a Grand Slam orphan until its re-invention in the late 1980s, with paltry top fields throughout the entirety of 1976-1982 when often the entire ranking Top 5 were not entered.
