Kafelnikov Withdraws in Protest

Yevgeny Kafelnikov, seeded seventh in the U.S. Open despite being ranked fourth in the world, withdrew from the Grand Slam event Saturday in protest over what he calls unfair seeding practices.

The U.S. Tennis Assn. dropped the 22-year-old Russian three spots from his world ranking despite his winning the French Open and leading the ATP Tour in points this year.

“I was shocked when I saw what they did to me,” Kafelnikov said. “I deserve to be seeded No. 4. I won a Grand Slam tournament and consider myself a good hard-court player. It took me a few days to decide. I am disappointed, but I am sending a warning. . . .

“They basically set up the draw in favor of American players. . . . I don’t want to have all the tournaments ignore the rankings.”