Wimbledon

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

RE: Wimbledon

Barefoot · Lower Club Player

Im against this. Especially considering the likes of Sabalenka have been outspoken against her govt during the protests there. Its different to oligarchs who have been supported or influenced Putins government.

All this will do is strengthen resolve amongst mildly patriotic Russians that theyre against us.

stevemcqueen · Futures qualifying

A unified approach would have taken much, much longer to agree. You can argue that Wimbledon is showing some leadership. I feel sorry for Russian players who are openly critical of this crass war and Putin's regime. Perhaps a dozen of them will lose out financially. Compare this with the number of Ukrainians who are no longer able to make a living or who are maimed or lying dead in horrble circumstances.

-- Edited by stevemcqueen on Wednesday 20th of April 2022 03:28:36 PM

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

stevemcqueen wrote:
A unified approach would have taken much, much longer to agree. You can argue that Wimbledon is showing some leadership. I feel sorry for Russian players who are openly critical of this crass war and Putin's regime. Perhaps a dozen of them will lose out financially. Compare this with the number of Ukrainians who are no longer able to make a living or who are maimed or lying dead in horrble circumstances.

-- Edited by stevemcqueen on Wednesday 20th of April 2022 03:28:36 PM

Agreed - or "This" as folks seem to say nowadays!

paulisi · Tennis legend

It looks like the LTA will follow suit with the grass court events which are under WTA/ATP jurisdiction.
Will be interesting to see their reaction.

indiana · Tennis legend

Interesting to see how this develops, particularly with so many Russian players not based in Russia.

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Wouldn't it be nice if the war was over by then, Russia had withdrawn, and Wimbledon could change their minds?

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

paulisi wrote:
It looks like the LTA will follow suit with the grass court events which are under WTA/ATP jurisdiction.
Will be interesting to see their reaction.

Presumably some Russians will abandon the grass if Wimbledon isnt open to them...

Agreed though, and I dont think the ATP and WTA have commented yet?

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

And confirmation that ban applies to all British events

twitter.com/Mike_Dickson_DM/status/1516786441552076808

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

Richard Ingham Evans
@Ringham7
Blocking
@Wimbledon
TV coverage in
@Russia
&
@Belrussia
will have big impact. Getting truth to Russian people is vital in trying to end war & with so many top stars banned & whole event unavailable sports community will be asking serious questions.

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

The ATP arent happy about this decision - press release below. Could they boycott WImbledon? Or is the ranking piece key here - is withdraw ranking points status??

We strongly condemn Russias reprehensible invasion of Ukraine and stand in solidarity with the millions of innocent people affected by the ongoing war.

Our sport is proud to operate on the fundamental principles of merit and fairness, where players compete as individuals to earn their place in tournaments based on the ATP Rankings. We believe that todays unilateral decision by Wimbledon and the LTA to exclude players from Russia and Belarus from this years British grass-court swing is unfair and has the potential to set a damaging precedent for the game. Discrimination based on nationality also constitutes a violation of our agreement with Wimbledon that states that player entry is based solely on ATP Rankings. Any course of action in response to this decision will now be assessed in consultation with our Board and Member councils.

It is important to stress that players from Russia and Belarus will continue to be allowed to compete at ATP events under a neutral flag, a position that has until now been shared across professional tennis. In parallel, we will continue our joint humanitarian support for Ukraine under Tennis Plays for Peace.

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

Seems others are looking at the ranking points question as well

twitter.com/josemorgado/status/1516813805388550150

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

And if players cant enter the ATP events in Britain, will the ATP pull those ie Queens, Eastbourne, Nottingham, the Challengers etc - could they all get taken off the ATP/WTA roster for this year.

Could get ugly and interesting

Mark1968 · Intermediate Club Player

The decision to ban Russian and Belarusian players is discrimination of almost the highest level. The conflict has nothing to do with these players or any citizen of these countries whatsoever but they are being wrongly punished for something way beyond their control.
These actions by the Wimbledom commitee will anger Putin, a sport lover, which along with constant provocation from Boris Johnson could eventually bring disastorous consequences for us all. Whatever anyone believes they will achieve nothing positive.
The shameful Wimbledom commitee would have loved being in South Africa many decades ago where people were discriminated against because of colour and these actions are little better. They will have angered the wrong people by doing this and might come to regret it. Would we like it if our players were banned because we were in conflict with another country? No we wouldn't. The shoe can be on the other foot quicker than one thinks.
I appreciate that the conflict is a terrible situation but with players being banned for refusing to take an experimental medical procedure and now banned for being born in the wrong country this is another dark day for freedom, democracy and basic human rights.

christ · Futures qualifying

Mark1968 wrote:
The decision to ban Russian and Belarusian players is discrimination of almost the highest level. The conflict has nothing to do with these players or any citizen of these countries whatsoever but they are being wrongly punished for something way beyond their control.
These actions by the Wimbledom commitee will anger Putin, a sport lover, which along with constant provocation from Boris Johnson could eventually bring disastorous consequences for us all. Whatever anyone believes they will achieve nothing positive.
The shameful Wimbledom commitee would have loved being in South Africa many decades ago where people were discriminated against because of colour and these actions are little better. They will have angered the wrong people by doing this and might come to regret it. Would we like it if our players were banned because we were in conflict with another country? No we wouldn't. The shoe can be on the other foot quicker than one thinks.
I appreciate that the conflict is a terrible situation but with players being banned for refusing to take an experimental medical procedure and now banned for being born in the wrong country this is another dark day for freedom, democracy and basic human rights.

Not this.