Tours Argue Wimbledon Sets ‘Damaging Precedent’ in Barring Russian and Belarusian Players

“Of course it’s very tragic, what’s happening in the world,” said Yevgeny Kafelnikov, a Russian who was ranked No. 1 in singles in the late 1990s, in an interview from Moscow. “I’m totally shocked with what is going on, but to hold hostage people like Medvedev, Rublev and Pavlyuchenkova, I think it’s wrong. And knowing what kind of position they took before when this all started, I think Wimbledon is making a mistake on this one. They’ve gone a bit too far.”

But though there are questions about why the sports world is barring athletes in this instance after declining to do so during many previous conflicts, numerous international sports, including track and field and figure skating, have excluded individual Russian and Belarusian athletes from competitions. The Boston Marathon barred those who live in Russia and Belarus from Monday’s race, facing some blowback from runners who said they don’t get to choose where they are born. But Wimbledon ultimately decided that it did not want to risk the optics of a Russian or Belarusian player holding up a champion’s trophy on the 100th anniversary of its iconic Centre Court.

Ian Hewitt, chairman of the All England Club, said of Wimbledon’s decision: “We recognize that this is hard on the individuals affected, and it is with sadness that they will suffer for the actions of the leaders of the Russian regime.”

After the invasion began in February, tennis was quick to bar the Russians and their Belarusian allies from team events like the Davis Cup and the Billie Jean King Cup, both of which were won by Russian teams in 2021. The sport’s seven governing bodies announced that ban collectively on March 1.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/20/sports/tennis/wimbledon-ban-russia-belarus-players.html