Tennis players from Russia and bordering country Belarus will not be able to compete at this year’s Wimbledon tournament as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The ban will see the likes of men’s world number two, Daniil Medvedev of Russia, and women’s world number four, Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus, being barred from competing this summer.
The tournament, which is considered to be one of the most important in the tennis calendar, will take place from June 27 to July 10.
The ban will even impact players like Russian world number 15, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova—who called for the war to stop earlier this year—but they will still be able to compete at the French Open, which starts in May.
In response to the ban, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said: “Given that Russia is a strong tennis country and our athletes possess top lines of the world rating, the tournament itself would suffer because of this ban. It is unacceptable to make the athletes once again hostages of certain political prejudice, intrigues and hostile actions towards our country.”
There are mixed opinions regarding the ban, with sports minister Nigel Huddleston previously saying “nobody flying the flag for Russia should be allowed” to play at Wimbledon. On the other hand, WTA head Steve Simon told BBC Sport in March that he did not believe players from the two countries should be banned from tournaments.
The move follows the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) and the men’s association (ATP) suspending their combined event scheduled to take place in Moscow in October. The International Tennis Federation (ITF) has also cancelled its events in the country.
