Cape Times

Russian stars to be barred from Wimbledon

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MEN'S tennis world number two Daniil Medvedev is set to be barred from this year's Wimbledon Grand Slam tournament as The Times reported organisers are to ban Russian and Belarus players due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Russian and Belarusian players have been able to continue to compete in ATP and WTA events under a neutral flag since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24.

It was believed this would extend to the three remaining Grand Slam events – though the ITF banned both countries' teams from the Davis Cup and the Billie Jean King Cup.

However, The Times says sources have told them that after almost two months of talks Wimbledon organisers prefer to ban the players rather than adhere to a compromise solution offered by the British government.

That would have seen the likes of Medvedev and last year's Wimbledon women's singles semi-finalist Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus sign statements that they would not make supportive comments of Russian president Vladimir Putin or the war.

Wimbledon organisers believe signing such statements could impact negatively on the players' families.

The BBC reported that confirmati­on of the decision was to come later yesterday.

The Kremlin reacted angrily to the reports, deeming it “unacceptab­le”.

“Once again they simply turn athletes into hostages to political prejudice, political intrigues,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

“This is unacceptab­le. Taking into account that Russia is a very strong tennis country, our athletes are at the top of world rankings, the competitio­n itself will suffer from their removal,” he added.

It is likely that this ban will apply to all British grass-court tournament­s this summer.

The Lawn Tennis Associatio­n (LTA), which oversees key Wimbledon warm-up tournament­s such as Queen's and Eastbourne, said last week they would follow Wimbledon's lead.

“We think from a public perspectiv­e and indeed a practical implementa­tion perspectiv­e that there needs to be alignment [between the All England Club and LTA], so it is really clear and understood,” said LTA chief executive Scott Lloyd.

“That is critically important.” Russian and Belarus players have been muted in their condemnati­on of the war though men's world number eight Andrey Rublev did scrawl ‘no war please' on a TV camera when competing in Dubai just after the invasion took place.

Medvedev – presently recuperati­ng after a hernia operation – restricted himself to saying “I want peace in all of the world”.

However, Russia's top female player Anastasia Pavlyuchen­kova was more forthright.

“Stop the war, stop the violence,” she tweeted in March.

“I am not afraid to clearly state my position. I am against war and violence.”

Belarusian tennis star Victoria Azarenka, a former world number one and two-time Grand Slam title winner, was also outspoken.

“It is heartbreak­ing to see how many innocent people have been affected and continue to be affected by such violence,” the 32-year-old said in March.

“I have always seen and experience­d Ukrainian and Belarusian people friendly and supportive of each other.

“It's hard to witness the violent separation currently taking place.”

Belarus is seen as an ally of Russia and facilitate­d the invasion by allowing troops to cross over their border into Ukraine.

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