Wimbledon drops the ban on players from Russia and Belarus

Tennis players from Russia and Belarus will be allowed to compete at Wimbledon this summer after tournament officials reversed a policy that banned them last year in the months following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The decision to ban the players had sparked criticism at the time, even within tennis, and the opposite was expected. Wimbledon officials justified their decision in a statement saying that keeping the policy in place would be “HarmfulTo the tournament, which is the most prestigious in sport, and to tennis itself.

The biggest beneficiaries of the move are Arina Sabalenka of Belarus, who won the Australian Open in January and is ranked second in the world, and Daniil Medvedev, the 2021 US Open champion, who is fifth in the men’s ranking.

Medvedev said he had been closely watching developments over the past week as word had spread that the ban would be lifted, and that he was thrilled when he saw the news this morning.

“I have always said that I love this tournament,” said Medvedev, even though it is the only Grand Slam tournament in which he has failed to reach the quarterfinals. “Beautiful tournament. Beautiful Grand Slam. Really happy that I will be able to play this year.”

To be eligible under the new Wimbledon rules, players from Russia and Belarus must compete as “neutral athletes”, without anthems, flags or other nationalist trappings, and must not express support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Sponsorship of state-owned companies will also be banned.

Many sports moved quickly to make Russia and Belarus pariahs as punishment for their countries’ role in the invasion of Ukraine, but Wimbledon was the only Grand Slam tennis event last year to ban players unconditionally. While support for Ukraine is widespread in tennis, banning Wimbledon – a joint move with the British Tennis Association, which controls the sport there – has been roundly criticized across sport as a worrying precedent.

In a statement released on Friday, Ian Hewitt, president of the All England Club, said the organization continues to condemn the invasion and support the people of Ukraine.

“This was a very difficult decision, not taken lightly or without a great deal of consideration for those who would be affected,” Hewitt said. “In our view, given all the factors, these are the most favorable tournament arrangements for this year.”

Hewitt said the club would reconsider the situation if circumstances changed ahead of the tournament, which is due to start on July 3.

Like most Olympic sports, tennis has united to ban the national symbols of Russia and Belarus and to ban those countries from playing in team competitions.

However, only Wimbledon and the LTA banned players from competing in their events, a move strongly supported by the British Parliament.

The men’s and women’s professional tours, the ATP and WTA, sanctioned Wimbledon by choosing not to award ranking points for victories in the tournament. The move was an attempt to turn the event into something of a show, but it also hurt the tours and several top players, including Novak Djokovic and Elena Rybakina, because the rankings did not accurately reflect performances over the past 12 months.

Plus, the Russian native ended up winning the tournament anyway, with Rybakina, who was born and raised in Russia but started playing for Kazakhstan when she was 18, winning the women’s singles title.

In a joint statement on Friday, the ATP and WTA, which represent the players and the tournaments, said they were “delighted that all players will have the opportunity to compete in the tournament.” Wimbledon and LTA events this summer. It took a collaborative effort across the sport to come up with a workable solution that protects the fairness of the game.” Tours also reiterated its “unequivocal condemnation of Russia’s war on Ukraine”.

The decision has its opponents, including some high-profile players. Two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova said players from Russia and Belarus should not be allowed to be at Wimbledon or the Olympics. “I’m on the Ukrainian side,” Kvitova said on Friday after her semi-final victory over Romanian Sorana Cirstea.

Players from Russia and Belarus expressed their disappointment with the decision last year but did not challenge it in the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

In recent months, many top players, including Djokovic, have condemned the war, but they have also said that players from Russia and Belarus should be allowed to play, although Daria Kasatkina of Russia has been the only player from Russia or Belarus to be openly critical so far. war, which I did in a video he posted last summer. Andrey Rublev, another Russian, appeared in the video and said he agreed with her statements, although he was not openly criticizing her.

Sabalenka said in Australia that if she could have done anything to change what was happening in Ukraine, she would have done it. Victoria Azarenka, also from Belarus and a member of the WTA Players Council, offered to take part in a fundraising fair for war victims in Ukraine prior to the US Open, though players from Ukraine eventually asked that she not participate.

Players from Ukraine have been forced out of their country. Many, including Lesia Tsurenko and Dayana Yastremska, lobbied for players from Russia and Belarus to be banned from competing in any professional tournaments unless they expressed their opposition to the war.

There has been little contact between players from Ukraine, Russia and Belarus over the past year, although Kasatkina said she received multiple letters of thanks from players from Ukraine after she posted her video.

The All England Club’s move came just days after the International Olympic Committee said it would push for athletes from Russia and Belarus to participate in the summer games in Paris in 2024. In explaining the decision, IOC president Thomas Bach cited tennis as showing how players can from Those countries even compete against players from Ukraine without disturbance.

Players from Russia continued to excel in the game. On Friday afternoon, Medvedev beat compatriot Karen Khachanov in the semifinals of the Miami Open, one of the biggest tournaments of the year outside of a Grand Slam, to advance to the final against either Carlos Alcaraz or Yannick Sinner on Sunday. Rybakina will play in the women’s final on Saturday.

After losing to Medvedev, Khachanov said he did not look at his phone all morning and did not know he could play at Wimbledon until after the match.

I’m in the quarter-finals at Wimbledon, and it’s really a wonderful and special event in the history of tennis,” said Khachanov, who reached the quarter-finals at Wimbledon in 2021.