WTA, ATP Release Statements Disagreeing With Wimbledon’s Ban on Russian Players

On Wednesday, the All England Lawn and Tennis Club announced that Wimbledon would ban Russian and Belarusian players from this year’s tournament, making it the first tennis event that have banned players regarding the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The Women’s Tennis Association and the Association of Tennis Professionals responded to Wimbledon’s ban saying that although they condemn Russia’s invasion, the organizations do not believe punishing players for the actions of their home country is right. Therefore, the ATP and WTA will not be banning Russian and Belarusian players from any tour events.

“We are, however, very disappointed in today’s announcement by the AELTC and the LTA to ban individual athletes who are from Russia and Belarus from competing in the upcoming UK grass court events,” the WTA’s statement read. “A fundamental principal of the WTA is that individual athletes may participate in professional tennis events based on merit and without any form of discrimination. That principle is expressly set forth in our rules and has been agreed to by both AELTC and LTA. Prohibitions against discrimination are also clearly expressed in their own rules and the Grand Slam rules.”

Players from these two countries have been allowed to compete at tennis events since the February invasion, as long as they don’t represent their country or flag at the event. That way, the athletes are still able to compete in international events. The WTA and ATP said that players from these countries will still be able to compete under a neutral flag.

“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,” the ATP statement read. “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 two tennis organizations do not agree with Wimbledon’s “discrimination,” as they called it, saying it is “not fair nor justified.”

“The WTA will continue to apply its rules to reject discrimination and ensure that all athletes are able to compete at our Tour events should they qualify to do so, a position that until today’s announcement has been shared across professional tennis,” the WTA statement read.

Wimbledon’s decision affects four of the top 32 players in the world, including No. 2 Daniil Medvedev, No. 8 Andrey Rublev, No. 26 Karen Khachanov and No. 30 Aslan Karatsev. It also affects six of the top 32 women’s players, including No. 4 Aryna Sabalenka, No. 15 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, No. 18 Victoria Azarenka, No. 26 Daria Kasatkina, No. 29 Veronika Kudermetova and No. 31 Liudmila Samsonova.