On April 20, local time, after Wimbledon announced that it would refuse Russian and Belarusian players to participate this year, the two major tennis organizations at ATP and WTA issued statements one after another to express opposition to this move and said that they should not be disqualified according to the nationality of athletes.
ATP, WTA statement original text (Source: ATP, WTA official social media)
ATP and WTA begin by expressing their condemnation of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict in the first paragraph: "We strongly condemn such immoral acts as Russia's invasion of Ukraine and stand firmly with the millions of innocent people affected by the war. ”
Both the ATP and the WTA then expressed their dissatisfaction and opposition to Wimbledon's move, saying that such an approach would be unfair. The ATP statement read: "We believe that the unilateral decision of Wimbledon and the British Grass Lawn Association to refuse Russia and Belarus to participate in this year's Wimbledon is unfair, and such an approach could set a bad example for tennis, and discrimination based on the nationality of athletes violates our agreement with Wimbledon, that is, the only decisive condition for the qualification of players is ranking." ”
The WTA responded to Wimbledon's move with the term "extreme disappointment": "One of the basic principles of the WTA is that in the case of professional ethics, any individual athlete is eligible to participate without discrimination of any kind, which is clearly written in our rules, and is recognized by the All England Clubs and the British Tennis Association, and this rule is also very clearly written in their own rules and the rules of Grand Slam competitions." The WTA constantly emphasizes that individual athletes should not be punished or disqualified from competition because of the country they come from, or the decisions made by their national governments. Discriminatory behavior and discriminatory behavior, preventing players from playing in individual form, is not only unfair, but also unjustifiable. ”
Finally, the ATP and WTA once again stressed that all players can participate in the ATP and WTA tour events, including Russian and Belarusian players, and said that further measures will be taken in response to the Wimbledon decision.
(Article, Editor/Faye Wong)