Affected by the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, Russian players will be banned from participating in the Wimbledon Tennis Open in London from June 27 to July 10 this year. After the ban is introduced, many high-level players, including Medvedev, Rublev, Pavlyuchenkova, Sabarenka and Azarenka, will not be able to play at Wimbledon. Wimbledon will also be the first tennis tournament to restrict individual participation by Russian and Belarusian athletes.
The Wimbledon Organizing Committee issued a statement
Wimbledon Organizing Committee declares that, in the current situation, we cannot accept the Russian government benefiting from russian and White athletes participating in Wimbledon. Therefore, we regret to decide to ban Russian and Belarusian athletes from participating. The statement also mentioned that the British Lawn Tennis Association is close behind, similarly banning Russian and Belarusian athletes from participating in any tournaments under the association's umbrella this season.
Wimbledon's official decision to ban players from Russia and Belarus triggered an earthquake in the tennis world, and atTP and WTA, the men's and women's professional tennis tour organizations, issued statements condemning the ban decision.
OFFICIAL ATP Statement
The official ATP announcement said that this year's Wimbledon decision was unfair and could set a destructive precedent for the sport: "Discrimination based on nationality has violated the agreement we have reached, that is, whether a player can qualify for Wimbledon depends only on whether there is an ATP ranking." The WTA also issued a statement expressing considerable disappointment with Wimbledon's decision: "The tennis world has never banned athletes from competing because of their political stance. Athletes are innocent, and these decisions lead to their isolation. For Wimbledon's ban, both ATP and WTA said they would conduct further internal discussions to decide whether to make a follow-up response.
In addition to professional tennis organizations, criticism from people in the tennis industry is also emerging. Djokovic, now men's singles world number one, said the All England Tennis Club's decision was crazy: "When politicians want to get into sport, the results are definitely bad. Andrei Chesnokov, Russia's former world top ten player, also angrily said: "Everyone is saying that sport has nothing to do with politics." But it turns out that politics comes first. Former U.S. Grand Slam champion Martina Navratilova believes that "Wimbledon has crossed the line." ”
The Kremlin responded that banning Russian tennis players from playing at Wimbledon was "unacceptable." Kremlin spokesman Peskov said, "They (Wimbledon) have once again turned athletes hostages to political prejudice and political intrigue." "There are currently 5 male and 12 female players in the world rankings of The Russian and Belarusian players in the top 100 men's and women's rankings. It remains to be seen whether Wimbledon's ban will eventually be implemented despite opposition from all sides. Wimbledon mentioned in its statement that the ban would be reconsidered if there was a "substantial change in circumstances" before the event opened.