Wimbledon will allow Russian and Belarusian tennis players again

The most important tennis tournament in the world will enable tennis players from those countries once again. Last year they had been banned, due to the invasion of Ukraine.

Unlike the last edition, the British tournament of Wimbledon will allow this year to compete Russian and Belarusian tennis players under the designation of athletes “neutral” and with certain conditions, its organizers announced Friday.

Thus, “expressions of support for the Russian invasion of Ukraine in various forms will be prohibited and the participation of players who receive funds from the Russian and/or Belarusian states (including sponsorship by companies operated or controlled by states),” they said in a statement.

This change was possible thanks to the modification of the directives by the British government, specified the all england club that organizes the only championship of grand slams on grass. Last year, in a controversial decision, a sanction was decided against athletes from the same country that participates in a war, as happened in soccer, which left Russia out of the qualifying instance Qatar World Cup.

Among the considerations that weighed in on this decision, “last year there was a strong and very disappointing reaction from some tennis governing bodies to the position taken by the All England Club and the Lawn Tennis Association with consequences that, if continued, would be detrimental to the interests of players, fans, the championship and British tennis,” he said.

As a consequence of the decision of Wimbledon to ban the participation of Russian and Belarusian tennis players in 2022, following the directives of the British government due to the invasion of Ukrainethe ATP penalized the championship by excluding it from the distribution of points for the world ranking.

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