Tennis ‘Big Guns’ condemn Wimbledon ban

Three of the four tennis stars who have dominated global tennis over the past two decades have lent their voices to the growing condemnation of the Wimbledon tennis authorities to exclude players from Russia and Belarus from participation in this year’s tournament.

The ban was announced on April 20 following a request by the British government which had urged the Wimbledon body to request “written confirmation” of neutrality over the Russia-Ukraine armed conflict from players from Russia and Ukraine in order for them to be eligible to participate.

It was a highly unusual, and controversial step, basing eligibility on political considerations rather than on sporting merit. In every other major tennis tournament, qualification for participation is based on rankings and on-court performance.

The exclusion has already been criticised by the two major tennis federations, for men and women. Now, tennis greats Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray have added their voices to the condemnation. The three, who between them have won 44 Grand Slam singles titles, including 10 at Wimbledon, have publicly disagreed with the ban.

Nadal, who leads in Grand Slam winners, 21 to Djokovic’s 20, in a press conference, said, “I think it’s very unfair on my Russian tennis mates, my colleagues”. Referring to the war in Ukraine he opined, “it’s not their (the players) fault.”

Djokovic described the Wimbledon ban as “crazy”, and called it “complete discrimination” and “illogical”. He went on to say that he does not support the exclusion, claiming “it’s not fair, not right”. His non-support was echoed by Britain’s most successful player in modern times, Andy Murray of Scotland. He also made it plain that he is “not supportive” of the ban.

According to Murray, the guidance from the British government “was not helpful”. To ask players to sign a declaration against the war and the Russian government in order to be eligible to play at Wimbledon, and other British tennis tournaments, “seems unfair to the players”. He also noted that, “I don’t support one side or the other”.

The pressure is now on the international governing bodies of tennis, the WTA (women) and ATP (men) for follow-up clarification after initially criticising the ban. In addition, Nadal has hinted that the players themselves may have a say.

“Let’s see what happens in the next weeks’, he said, “if the players will take some sort of decision in that regard”.

A leading female player, two-time Grand Slam winner, Victoria Azarenka of Belarus, has in fact called on the tennis governing bodies “to take action”. She described the ban as making “no sense” and said that she believes that “there should be a reaction”. She went on to make her position clear.

“I will never, ever support war and violence” so “I don’t see the reasoning” behind the ban.

Steve Simon, who is in charge of the women’s tour, in which several prominent players are from Russia and Belarus, has warned of “strong reactions”.

Wimbledon is scheduled to commence on June 27.