In retaliation to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Russian and Belarus tennis players will not be allowed to compete in Wimbledon, the season’s important third Grand Slam. The All England Club would be the first tennis institution to reject Russians.
Russian and Belarusian players will be allowed to compete on the regular ATP and WTA Tours but not under the name or flag of their countries.
Russia and Belarus have also been kept away from competing in team events. It includes the Davis Cup and the Billie Jean King Cup. The consequence of this decision will be that world No. 2 Daniil Medvedev and world No. 8 Andrey Rublev will not be able to compete in the Wimbledon men’s draw. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Daria Kasatkina, and Veronika Kudermetova would also not be competing.
Wimbledon will start on June 27
“We have noted the UK Government’s guidance regarding the attendance of Russian and Belarusian individuals in a neutral capacity at sporting events in the UK,” the AELTC, organizers of the grasscourt Grand Slam, said in a statement.
Other individual sports have already seen the West react to Russia’s invasion. Earlier this week at the Boston Marathon there were no participants from Russia and Belarus. After the invasion, there were bans on Russian Paralympians from competing in the Winter Paralympics.
