Wimbledon will take place this year without Russian and Belarusian tennis professionals. This was announced yesterday by the organizers of the oldest and most important of the four Grand Slam tournaments. “We are aware that this is a tough decision for the individual athletes involved,” said organizer Ian Hewitt. “It is sad that they have to suffer from the actions of the leaders of the Russian regime.” In view of the war of aggression, however, it would be unacceptable that the Russian regime could take advantage of the performances of tennis professionals from Russia or Belarus at Wimbledon, he argued. If the conditions change fundamentally by June (tournament start is on June 27th), this will be considered.
The most prominent people affected by the ban are last year’s semi-finalist Victoria Asarenka from Belarus and Russia’s Daniil Medvedev, who briefly ousted Novak Djokovic at the top of the world rankings.
According to the Times, after weeks of talks with the British government, Hewitt and his team believe exclusion is the most practicable solution. According to this, political representatives initially took the approach that the tennis stars concerned had to submit a written statement in which they condemned the war aggressions of their home countries. That would also have fitted the line previously drawn by the WTA and ATP. At their events, activists from Russia and Belarus have been flying neutral flags since the outbreak of war. The World Federation (ITF) had canceled the two country selections from the Davis and Billie Jean King Cup team competitions. Wimbledon is now the first individual tournament to take this step.
“Once again, athletes are being held hostage by any political bias, political intrigues, hostile actions against our country. This is unacceptable,” said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov. British Sports Minister Nigel Huddleston said in March he would be uncomfortable if a “Russian athlete with a waving Russian flag” won Wimbledon.
Djokovic struggled
Novak Djokovic, number one in the tennis world, barely reached the quarterfinals at the home tournament in Belgrade. The 34-year-old Serb was against compatriot Laslo Djere (WRL No. 50) fell behind with a set and a break before gaining the upper hand after 3:24 hours with 2:6, 7:6 (6), 7:6 (4). Incidentally, Djokovic was given the green light to compete in Rome, although he was not vaccinated. The world number one Iga Swiatek (Pol) celebrated in Stuttgart with the 6:1, 6:1 against Eva Lys (D) their 20th consecutive victory on the tour.
Source: Nachrichten
