Possibly. I think they should have maintained the ban, and let the ATP and WTA whinge. (... and they shouldn't pay any fine)
agreed, this is what I would like to have had them do. I realise pragmatically, they probably couldnt and had to consider other factors.
If they had refused to pay the fines, would the WTA and ATP have really thrown the UK grass court circuits out of the tours - really? Of course they wouldnt have done
There's a new show court for qualifying this year with a 700 seating capacity. Assuming the old show court is still being used, hopefully that means we can have more than 1 court being televised.
Possibly. I think they should have maintained the ban, and let the ATP and WTA whinge. (... and they shouldn't pay any fine)
agreed, this is what I would like to have had them do. I realise pragmatically, they probably couldnt and had to consider other factors.
If they had refused to pay the fines, would the WTA and ATP have really thrown the UK grass court circuits out of the tours - really? Of course they wouldnt have done
I'm not at all sure about that "of course". It was a very unpalatable but I would also say pragmatic change of direction.
Possibly. I think they should have maintained the ban, and let the ATP and WTA whinge. (... and they shouldn't pay any fine)
agreed, this is what I would like to have had them do. I realise pragmatically, they probably couldnt and had to consider other factors.
If they had refused to pay the fines, would the WTA and ATP have really thrown the UK grass court circuits out of the tours - really? Of course they wouldnt have done
I'm not at all sure about that "of course". It was a very unpalatable but I would also say pragmatic change of direction.
I agree they did the right thing , pragmatically, I do think it was a poker call though and they might have called their bluff - sadly, they couldnt take that chance
This year's Wimbledon will be Gerry Armstrongs last year as Championships Referee. During his officiating career, Armstrong has umpired 13 Championships Finals at Wimbledon, including four Gentlemens Singles Finals and four Ladies Singles Finals.
And the thing is VK is allowed to display that logo week in week out, with no comeback from the authorities. It says tournaments can choose to ban it, but no one apart from the LTA are doing so.
And the thing is VK is allowed to display that logo week in week out, with no comeback from the authorities. It says tournaments can choose to ban it, but no one apart from the LTA are doing so.
Whereas the vast majority of other sports have banned Russians, period
So the declaration isn't worth the paper it is written on. By no stretch of the imagination can you say that any player is not receiving funding from the state or a state connected company by just suspending the display of a logo for the tournament. They'll still get the same amount of sponsorship without without the logo. They'll still use that money to prepare for the tournament and to get to and from the tournament. Pathetic.
I just saw an article about Sabalenka saying she hasn't got a visa to enter the UK yet. I don't know if it's just clickbait or if the government is planning to maintain the ban on Russians and Belarussians by taking its own action which, if they do, they really should have done so last year rather than let the LTA take all the flak.