{"id":48869,"date":"2022-04-21T12:49:48","date_gmt":"2022-04-21T16:49:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/?p=48869"},"modified":"2022-04-21T12:49:48","modified_gmt":"2022-04-21T16:49:48","slug":"wimbledon-russian-ban-embarrassing-disgrace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2022\/04\/21\/wimbledon-russian-ban-embarrassing-disgrace\/","title":{"rendered":"Wimbledon’s Ban on Russian Athletes: An Embarrassing Disgrace"},"content":{"rendered":"

Whether you\u2019re a tennis fan or not, the likelihood is that you\u2019ve heard of Wimbledon<\/a>. Taking place in London, with the all-white rule for players glistening under the summer sun with a stunning Centre Court with tons of history, there\u2019s no wonder it\u2019s the biggest and most prestigious tournament in all of tennis.<\/p>\n

In January this year we had the whole incident of world #1 Novak Djokovic being detained and deported<\/a> from Australia, making worldwide news and embarrassing the sport<\/a>, the Australian Open, and Australia itself. After such a mess, not many people would have expected Wimbledon to follow suit in disgracing itself. But that\u2019s exactly what they\u2019ve done, arguably to an even worse extent.<\/p>\n

Wimbledon Bans Russian and Belarussian Players<\/h3>\n

As you probably already know, the organizers have announced<\/a> that Russian and Belarusian players will be unable to compete in the event due to the ongoing conflict with Ukraine to \u201climit Russian influence.\u201d As you can imagine, tennis players and fans have spoken their minds just on how truly pathetic the decision is. Is Putin really going to stop invading Ukraine now he\u2019s found out Medvedev can\u2019t play Wimbledon?<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s start with the obvious. You\u2019re banning players from playing an event they\u2019ve fairly and rightfully gotten into including world #2 Daniil Medvedev, #8 Andrey Rublev, and last year\u2019s Roland Garros finalist Anastasia Pavlychenkova, evidently some of the best players in the world. They aren\u2019t being banned for any fault of their own. They\u2019re being barred from playing because of the country they\u2019re from, something they have no control over. It\u2019s xenophobic, regardless of how Wimbledon wants to spin it. If any other sport or event was doing this to a certain nationality of players\/teams, we all know it wouldn\u2019t go down well–and it shouldn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

If we\u2019re going down the politics route to justify it, then why weren\u2019t American players banned when their country was invading the likes of Afghanistan and Iraq? Should we only care when the people suffering are white, blonde with blue eyes? That\u2019s what it sounds like to me. Perhaps even funnier, Britain itself has a rich history of invading other countries, in fact there\u2019s only 22 countries it hasn\u2019t invaded. Instead of banning Russians and Belarusians from playing Wimbledon, why don\u2019t we simply just move the event to a country which isn\u2019t hypocritical as can be and makes for a fair event?<\/p>\n

Do you want to know what makes this decision even more laughable? The fact that the WTA and ATP tours themselves have condemned the decision. The WTA has stated<\/a> they\u2019re \u201cvery disappointed\u201d and that \u201cindividual athletes should not be penalised from competing due to the decisions made by the governments of their countries\u201d. The ATP themselves have said<\/a> \u201cdiscrimination based on nationality constitutes a violation of our agreement with Wimbledon\u201d and thankfully are investigating and looking further into the matter.<\/p>\n

This is the same ATP Tour which refused to comment or even acknowledge how Novak Djokovic was treated in Australia earlier this year, so it\u2019s good to see they\u2019re finally getting their priorities straight and not hiding away when their players are being treated unfairly.<\/p>\n

Speaking of Novak Djokovic, growing up in a war zone and knowing the \u201cemotional trauma war leaves us,\u201d even he didn\u2019t support Wimbledon\u2019s decision, saying<\/a>, \u201cIt\u2019s not the athletes\u2019 fault\u201d and that when \u201cpolitics interferes with sports it usually doesn\u2019t turn out well,\u201d which we\u2019ve clearly seen all over the world since the announcement has been made.<\/p>\n

On the women\u2019s side, you have Elina Svitolina agreeing with the decision demanding that the ATP, WTA, and ITF ask Russian and Belarusian players a few questions which would determine their stance on the matter. It\u2019s awful to say the least. The top two Russians in the world–Medvedev and Rublev–have openly said<\/a> \u201cno war\u201d and have called for peace, but that isn\u2019t enough? If anything, it\u2019s also dangerous and puts themselves, their families, and their friends at risk by demanding strong answers and statements. Players should never be put in a situation like this. If we\u2019re thinking and caring about the mental and physical states of these players, it\u2019s stupid to ask and expect anything more of them. Just let them do their job.<\/p>\n

Just to pick out some responses from fans to the matter. One says it\u2019s the need to \u201cdo something,\u201d which you can understand given the severity of what\u2019s going on, but as Australian John Millman says, \u201cUkraine would be better off served if Wimbledon donated their entire profit in support of aid instead of banning Russian and Belarusian players\u201d. Safe to say he\u2019s completely right, but knowing Wimbledon are very profit-orientated, we all know it will never happen. Like the fan also says, the bottom line is Wimbledon felt the need to do something and in return have done something which helps no one and hurts innocent people.<\/p>\n

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When I qualified at Wimbledon for the 1st time I asked for two extra ground passes so family could watch – I was told to line up in the queue. Money means everything there, if you\u2019re going to ban athletes then also give all your profits in aid. Then we\u2019d know you\u2019re serious.<\/p>\n

— John Millman (@johnhmillman) April 21, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n