After weeks of anticipations, only the officialization by the All England Club was missing, which arrived just over two months after the start of the 2022 Championships: Russian and Belarusian tennis players will not be able to participate in the next edition of Wimbledon, number 145 of the oldest and most iconic tournament in the world.
The decision, drastic and unprecedented in the world of tennis, was taken by the organizing committee of the prestigious London tournament in agreement with the British government, deployed at the forefront of the Western front in the anti-Russian retaliation following the outbreak of the war in Ukraine.
And so after imposing very harsh sanctions on companies and oligarchs believed to be close to the Kremlin, which cost Premier Boris Johnson and many members of his government a ban on entering Russia,
now London extends its retaliation also in the sports field.
With the reaction of the Kremlin, which speaks of an "unacceptable decision".
An "unfair" choice that "can create a damaging precedent for tennis". Thus the ATP comments on the "unilateral decision"
taken by the organizers of Wimbledon and the British federtennis to exclude players from Russia and Belarus from the tournament, which could lead to sanctions.
"Discrimination based on nationality is also a violation of the agreement with Wimbledon according to which the admission of players is based only on the rankings", writes the association of tennis players chaired by Andrea Gaudenzi, which will meet the Council to assess the situation.
In an official note, the organizers - condemning "the illegal, unacceptable and unjustified actions of Russia", and taking into account the "international profile of the Championships and their responsibility in disseminating the efforts of the British government, companies and sporting institutions to limit the global influence of Russia "- they made it known that" with deep regret "they decided to reject the requests for participation of the players of Russia and Belarus for the 2022 Championships. And this despite several of them, from Medvedev to Rublev, had expressed their pain by calling for peace, even if without ever explicitly condemning Putin's choices.
Also for this reason, in recent weeks the
As it had already been widely anticipated by various press organs, which also underlined that the Wimbledon decision goes beyond the measures adopted so far by the international Federtennis, as well as by the other Grand Slam tournaments, which have banned Russia and Belarus. from team tournaments (such as the Davis Cup or the Billie Jean King Cup), while allowing individual athletes of the two nations to continue to participate in international events (from Grand Slams to ATP 1000s), albeit competing without a flag.
A derogation that, on the other hand, the London tournament did not want to adopt, giving up, in the men's sphere, four players among the top 30 of the world ranking, starting with world number two Daniil Medvedev, and five players among the top 40 of the world ranking , like Belarusian # 4 Aryna Sabalenka,
or his compatriot, former # 1 Victoria Azarenka.
If the Wimbledon move represents an absolute novelty in the tennis field, as confirmed only yesterday by Roland Garros which decided not to impose any type of restriction on participation, other sports - from athletics to badminton, from canoeing to rowing - have already imposed the exclusion not only of national representatives but also of individual athletes.
"We realize that it is a very tough decision for individual athletes - commented the president of the All England Club, Ian Hewitt -. We have also carefully evaluated other measures, which could have been taken within the guidelines of the government. But in light of the tournament profile, we came to the conclusion that there were no other viable solutions. "
1 Victoria Azarenka.
If the Wimbledon move represents an absolute novelty in the tennis field, as confirmed only yesterday by Roland Garros which decided not to impose any type of restriction on participation, other sports - from athletics to badminton, from canoeing to rowing - have already imposed the exclusion not only of national representatives but also of individual athletes.
"We realize that it is a very tough decision for individual athletes - commented the president of the All England Club, Ian Hewitt -. We have also carefully evaluated other measures, which could have been taken within the guidelines of the government. But in light of the tournament profile, we came to the conclusion that there were no other viable solutions. "
1 Victoria Azarenka.
If the Wimbledon move represents an absolute novelty in the tennis field, as confirmed only yesterday by Roland Garros which decided not to impose any type of restriction on participation, other sports - from athletics to badminton, from canoeing to rowing - have already imposed the exclusion not only of national representatives but also of individual athletes.
"We realize that it is a very tough decision for individual athletes - commented the president of the All England Club, Ian Hewitt -. We have also carefully evaluated other measures, which could have been taken within the guidelines of the government. But in light of the tournament profile, we came to the conclusion that there were no other viable solutions. "
If the Wimbledon move represents an absolute novelty in the tennis field, as confirmed only yesterday by Roland Garros which decided not to impose any type of restriction on participation, other sports - from athletics to badminton, from canoeing to rowing - have already imposed the exclusion not only of national representatives but also of individual athletes.
"We realize that it is a very tough decision for individual athletes - commented the president of the All England Club, Ian Hewitt -. We have also carefully evaluated other measures, which could have been taken within the guidelines of the government. But in light of the tournament profile, we came to the conclusion that there were no other viable solutions. "
If the Wimbledon move represents an absolute novelty in the tennis field, as confirmed only yesterday by Roland Garros which decided not to impose any type of restriction on participation, other sports - from athletics to badminton, from canoeing to rowing - have already imposed the exclusion not only of national representatives but also of individual athletes.
"We realize that it is a very tough decision for individual athletes - commented the president of the All England Club, Ian Hewitt -. We have also carefully evaluated other measures, which could have been taken within the guidelines of the government. But in light of the tournament profile, we came to the conclusion that there were no other viable solutions. "
as confirmed only yesterday by Roland Garros which decided not to impose any type of restriction for participation, other sports - from athletics to badminton, from canoeing to rowing - have already imposed the exclusion not only of national representatives but also of individuals athletes.
"We realize that it is a very tough decision for individual athletes - commented the president of the All England Club, Ian Hewitt -. We have also carefully evaluated other measures, which could have been taken within the guidelines of the government. But in light of the tournament profile, we came to the conclusion that there were no other viable solutions. "
as confirmed only yesterday by Roland Garros which decided not to impose any type of restriction for participation, other sports - from athletics to badminton, from canoeing to rowing - have already imposed the exclusion not only of national representatives but also of individuals athletes.
"We realize that it is a very tough decision for individual athletes - commented the president of the All England Club, Ian Hewitt -. We have also carefully evaluated other measures, which could have been taken within the guidelines of the government. But in light of the tournament profile, we came to the conclusion that there were no other viable solutions. "
exclusion not only of national teams but also of individual athletes.
"We realize that it is a very tough decision for individual athletes - commented the president of the All England Club, Ian Hewitt -. We have also carefully evaluated other measures, which could have been taken within the guidelines of the government. But in light of the tournament profile, we came to the conclusion that there were no other viable solutions. "
exclusion not only of national teams but also of individual athletes.
"We realize that it is a very tough decision for individual athletes - commented the president of the All England Club, Ian Hewitt -. We have also carefully evaluated other measures, which could have been taken within the guidelines of the government. But in light of the tournament profile, we came to the conclusion that there were no other viable solutions. "