As the “Dailymail” and the “New York Times” reported on Wednesday morning, all Russian and Belarusian tennis players will be excluded from the prestigious tournament in Wimbledon (June 27 to July 10).
This means that the current world number two Daniil Medvedev (26) is not allowed to serve at the All England Lawn Tennis Club this year. In addition to him, there are other stars. Another top ten player will be missing in Andrey Rublev (24, ATP 8).
For women, three players from the top 20 in the world are not allowed to compete. Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka (23, WTA 4) would have started the tournament as one of the top favourites. Her compatriot Viktoria Asarenka (32, WTA 18) and the Russian Anastassija Pavlyuchenkowa (30, WTA 15) are also affected by the sanctions.
Why is Wimbledon allowed to exclude professionals?
So far, all players from Russia and Belarus have been allowed to continue to take part in tournaments, but not under their national flag. However, both the ATP and the WTA refrained from completely excluding athletes.
But why is Wimbledon still allowed to resort to such a measure? All Grand Slam tournaments are independent of the ATP and WTA. They are organized by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and run by private organizers. For this reason, they are also allowed to exercise their own rules and regulations.
It was recently speculated that players would have to fill out a form confirming their distance from the Kremlin and President Vladimir Putin (69). But the implementation of this regulation would have been extremely expensive, which is why the organizers are now taking tougher action.
Timid anti-war statements
So far, Russian tennis professionals have been reluctant to position themselves against the Russian government. Andrey Rublev, for example, wrote “No War Please” several times in Dubai on the lens of the TV camera. Medvedev also wrote the following message on Instagram: “I ask for peace in the world, for peace between countries.”
The former world number 1, Mats Wilander (57), understands the reluctance of tennis cracks. His statements illustrate the difficult situation of Russian athletes: “The situation is very delicate. It is difficult for Russian athletes to express criticism of the war publicly. Much more difficult than it is for other people or in other countries, »the Swede told Eurosport, where he has been an expert for years.
“The athletes can’t do more,” said the seven-time Grand Slam winner: “I welcome their efforts to make themselves heard in a certain way. By demanding peace, not war, and then stopping right there, because of course we don’t want their personal safety to be jeopardized if they go too far.” (che)