Tennis players from Russia and Belarus will not be allowed to play at Wimbledon this year because of the war in Ukraine, the All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC) announced on Wednesday.
Wimbledon begins on June 27.
Russian athletes have been banned from competing in many sports following their country's invasion of Ukraine. Belarus has aided Russia in the war.
Prominent players affected by the ban include reigning US Open champion Daniil Medvedev, who recently reached No. 1 in the ATP rankings and is currently No. 2; men's No. 8 Andrey Rublev; Aryna Sabalenka, who was a Wimbledon semifinalist in 2021 and is No. 4 in the WTA rankings; Victoria Azarenka, former women's No. 1, who has won the Australian Open twice, and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, the French Open runner-up last year.
The AELTC said it was acting to “limit Russia's global influence through the strongest means possible”. AELTC noted “In the circumstances of such unjustified and unprecedented military aggression, it would be unacceptable for the Russian regime to derive any benefits from the involvement of Russian or Belarusian players.”
The AELTC also banned Russian and Belarusian players from other British grass court events. It noted the ban would be reconsidered if the situated changed by June.
The ATP and WTA criticised the move by the All England Lawn Tennis Club.
An ATP statement said “We believe that today's unilateral decision by Wimbledon and the LTA to exclude players from Russia and Belarus from this year's British grass-court swing is unfair and has the potential to set a damaging precedent for the game. Discrimination based on nationality also constitutes a violation of our agreement with Wimbledon that states that player entry is based solely on ATP rankings.”
The WTA said the ban was “neither fair nor justified”.
Serbian player Novak Djokovic criticised the decision, saying it was a result of politics interfering in sports. “I cannot support the decision of Wimbledon, I think it is crazy. The players, the tennis players, the athletes have nothing to do with it. When politics interferes with sport, the result is not good,” Djokovic said.
