NOT ALL ENGLAND CLUB
WIMBLEDON, England
As the singles rankings shook out ahead of Wimbledon, 16 players from the top 100s will miss out because of the All England Club’s ban of athletes from Russia and Belarus. The club that organizes the world’s most revered tennis tournament made that decision in April because of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Belarus’s support of the invasion.
For the men, those are players ranked Nos. 1, 8, 22, 40 and 43 — four Russians and a Belarusian. For the women, those are players ranked Nos. 6, 13, 20, 21, 30, 35, 47, 69, 78, 83 and 87 — eight Russians and three Belarusians.
“Yeah, I think it was tough,” Cameron Norrie, the top-ranked British men’s player at No. 12, said here Saturday. “It was a tough one, you know. Morally they did the right thing. I like that they were pretty onto it with that. But I do feel for a couple players, especially Daniil (Medvedev, No. 1 in the world) and Andrey (Rublev, No. 8), who have a good chance to win the tournament. So I really feel for those guys who are so committed to tennis and so professional.”
With Medvedev and No. 2 Alexander Zverev absent, the latter because of ankle surgery, this is the first time in the 49-year history of the rankings that Wimbledon will lack the top two men. But Wimbledon has had a men’s draw far more gutted than this one: In 1973, some 81 players, including 13 of the top 16, boycotted in protest of a suspension of Yugoslav player Nikola Pilic.
Near the top, the women’s side will lack No. 6 Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus, a semifinalist last year; No. 13 Daria Kasatkina of Russia; No. 20 Victoria Azarenka of Belarus and a two-time Australian
Open champion; and No. 21 Veronika Kudermetova of Russia. As for the men, Medvedev, 26, and Rublev, 24, have not surpassed the fourth round at Wimbledon, yet both reached that stage last year. Medvedev is the reigning U.S. Open champion, and Rublev is a fivetime quarterfinalist in Grand Slams, including at the French Open this month.
As players arrived for weekend interview sessions, they reiterated their views about the bans. Novak Djokovic, the three-time defending champion and 20time major champion ranked No. 3 in the world but No. 1 here, referenced the 1990s when his warring native land, then Yugoslavia, drew bans and disqualifications for events such as the 1992 European Championship in soccer, the 1994 World Cup, the 1996 European Championship and to some degree the 1992 Barcelona Summer Olympics.
Measured and respectful in his remarks, Djokovic said: “What I can say is that a child of war, several wars actually during the ’90s, I know what it feels like being in the position. But at the other hand, I can’t say I fully agree to ban Russian tennis players, Belarusian tennis players, from competing indefinitely. I just don’t see how they have contributed to anything that is really happening. I mean, I don’t feel it’s fair.“
In players’ remarks this weekend, the issue seemed absorbed and settled if still confusing, as did the idea that the ban will mean players will not earn rankings points for their Wimbledon performance, a snag for those aching to move up.
“I always said my idea is not to mix politics and sports together because, at the end of the story, the athletes get affected,” said Ons Jabeur, the Tunisian woman ranked No. 2 in the world. “Players couldn’t play the tournament and we couldn’t get the points, so kind of no one is winning at the end.”