Wimbledon - Russian and Belarusian tennis players are not allowed to compete

"In the circumstances of such unjustified and unprecedented military aggression, it would be unacceptable for the Russian regime to derive any advantage from the participation of Russian or Belarusian players in the championship," reads the joint communique of the All England Club and the organizing committee, which adds that if there is a major change in terms of the war by June would be, then they will consider the situation.

According to the organizers, they have carefully considered the possible measures that could be taken based on the UK government's guidance. However, given the importance of the contest and the importance of not using the sport to promote the Russian regime, they felt there was no other option.

Tennis players such as Daniil Medvedev, second in the world ranking, Andrei Rublev, eighth, and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (15th) will be missing from the tournament.

After the outbreak of the war, the international sports organizations banned the Russian and Belarusian national teams from international competitions, but the players can participate in the tournaments individually, although they cannot use their country's flag.

After the organizers' announcement, British Sports Minister Nigel Huddleston emphasized that the United Kingdom has taken a leading role at the international level to make it clear that Russian President Vladimir Putin cannot use sport to legitimize Russia's barbaric invasion of Ukraine.

However, not everyone agreed with Wimbledon's decision, according to ATP, which organizes the men's tournaments, it is unsportsmanlike to exclude Russian and Belarusian players.

"We believe that the unilateral decision of the organizers, which excludes players from Russia and Belarus from this year's tournament, is unfair and may set a harmful precedent," the ATP wrote, adding that the move is discrimination based on nationality, while at the same time Russian and Belarusian competitors at ATP tournaments they can still start under a neutral flag.

According to its announcement, the WTA, which organizes the women's tournaments, is "very disappointed" by the decision of the Wimbledon organizers and will evaluate what steps it can take after this.

The 18-time individual Grand Slam tournament winner Martina Navratilova believed that this kind of exclusion is not an acceptable way, and that the English organizers made their decision "in a vacuum".

"I think it's a bad decision. Tennis is a very democratic sport, it's hard when you see politics ruining it. The players are on the wrong side of politics," said the legendary player, adding that he sympathizes with the Ukrainian people.

The Kremlin says the ban of Russian players from Wimbledon is unacceptable and harms the tournament.

According to the International Tennis Federation (ITF), the decision of the Wimbledon organizers raises several questions, and the ITF is in the process of negotiating with the organizations involved.

Three Ukrainian players, Yelina Svitolina, Marta Kostyuk and Serhiy Stakhovsky, indicated on their social media pages that they demand the international ban of Russian and Belarusian athletes, as the Wimbledon organizers have now done.

"In a crisis situation, silence means that we agree with what is happening. We noticed that some Russian and Belarusian players at some point vaguely mentioned war, but never clearly stated that Russia and Belarus are waging war on the territory of Ukraine," they wrote.

This year's Wimbledon tournament will be held between June 27 and July 10.

(Source: Source: sportrajongo.hu, mti/Photo: pixabay, mti)