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A16 sports
Thursday 21 april 2022
Wimbledon bans players from Russia, Belarus over Ukraine war

By CHRIS LEHOURITES "It is our responsibility to play their events because of
AP Sports Writer our part in the widespread the war. The Russian men's
LONDON (AP) — Tennis efforts ... to limit Russia's national soccer team was
players from Russia and global influence through excluded from last month's
Belarus will not be allowed the strongest means pos- World Cup qualifying play-
to play at Wimbledon this sible," the All England Club offs, forcing them to miss a
year because of the war said in a statement first chance to reach this year's
in Ukraine, the All England posted on Twitter. "In the tournament in Qatar.
Club announced Wednes- circumstances of such un- Wednesday's move signals
day. justified and unprecedent- the first time a tennis tourna-
Among the prominent ed military aggression, it ment has told players from
men's players affected by would be unacceptable Russia and Belarus they are
the ban are reigning U.S. for the Russian regime to not welcome — and the
Open champion Daniil derive any benefits from ATP was quick to criticize
Medvedev, who recently the involvement of Russian the All England Club for
reached No. 1 in the ATP Russia's Daniil Medvedev plays a return to Spain's Carlos Al- or Belarusian players with what the men's tennis tour
caraz during the men's singles second round match on day four
rankings and is currently of the Wimbledon Tennis Championships in London, Thursday The Championships." called a "unilateral deci-
No. 2, and No. 8 Andrey July 1, 2021. Russian athletes have been sion" and "unfair.""Our sport
Rublev. The women's play- Associated Press prevented from compet- is proud to operate on the
ers affected include No. 4 ing in many sports following fundamental principles of
Aryna Sabalenka, who was Open runner-up last year. confirmed in March that their country's invasion of merit and fairness, where
a Wimbledon semifinalist Medvedev, Rublev and it was having discussions Ukraine. Belarus has aided players compete as indi-
last year; Victoria Azaren- Pavlyuchenkova are from with the British government Russia in the war. viduals to earn their place
ka, a former No. 1 who has Russia; Sabalenka and Aza- about whether Russians Soccer, figure skating and in tournaments," the ATP
won the Australian Open renka are from Belarus. should be able to play in track and field all banned said in a statement, add-
twice; and Anastasia Pav- Wimbledon begins on June the grass-court Grand Slam Russian and Belarusian ing that the decision "has
lyuchenkova, the French 27. The All England Club tournament. athletes and teams from the potential to set a dam-
aging precedent for the
game."
The WTA also said it was
"very disappointed" with
the decision.
"As the WTA has consis-
tently stated, individual
athletes should not be pe-
nalized or prevented from
competing due to where
they are from, or the deci-
sions made by the govern-
ments of their countries,"
the women's tour said in
a statement. "The WTA will
be evaluating its next steps
and what actions may be
taken regarding these de-
cisions."
The seven groups that run
the sport around the world
decided March 1 that
players from those coun-
tries would be allowed to
compete in WTA, ATP and
Grand Slam tournaments
but not under the name
or flag of Russia or Belar-
us. Those two nations also
were kicked out of the Billie
Jean King Cup and Davis
Cup team competitions;
Russia had been the reign-
ing champion in both.
The French Open, which
starts on May 22, will be
the first Grand Slam tour-
nament held since Russia
invaded Ukraine in Febru-
ary and is expected to per-
mit Russian and Belarussian
players to compete — just
as so-called "neutral" ath-
letes who may not repre-
sent their countries.q