Wimbledon ban a disgrace

Wimbledon ban a disgrace

The decision by the All England Club and the Committee of Management of The Championships to ‘decline entries from Russian and Belarusian players’ to Wimbledon 2022 is unfair, illogical, degrades the tournament, achieves no outcomes of any value, and blatantly ignores decisions already taken by international tennis bodies in response to the reprehensible invasion of Ukraine by Russia.

Consider that:

1. Russia and Belarus have been banned from competing in both the Davis Cup and Billie Jean King Cup, the two elite team events in professional tennis. Accordingly all individual players born in the two banned countries are stripped of opportunities to compete in these events.
2. All tournaments on the ATP and WTA calendar, originally scheduled for competition within Russia or Belarus, have been cancelled.
3. All players from Russia and Belarus are able to play in tournaments outside of Russia and Belarus, not under flags of those countries, but under a neutral flag.

Those responses are appropriate, and by most accounts sufficient.

However, punishing individuals further appears to be what the Wimbledon elite desires.

So, from the current singles top 100, we will have a Grand Slam tournament missing 5 men and 8 women. 

Wimbledon becomes an outlier, unilaterally deciding to discriminate, and violate agreements with the WTA and ATP to accept entry purely based on rankings. 

To what end ?

Putin won’t change his agenda. Lives won’t be saved.

It is just self absorbed posturing which sets a dangerous precedent for the sport of tennis.