“One of the founding principles of the WTA was that every girl in the world who was good enough should get a place to play. I endorsed that in 1971 and I still do,” she wrote on Twitter. “I cannot support the exclusion of individual female athletes from tournaments simply because of their nationality.”
rublev
According to Russian Andrey Rublev, the world’s number 8 in men’s tennis, the decision of the Wimbledon organizers is “totally discriminatory.” He said that after his win against Jiri Lehecka at the ATP tournament in Belgrade.
“The reasons they cited for this decision made no sense. It’s all so illogical. What is happening now is totally discriminatory to us,” said Rublev. Earlier, WTA, ATP and Serbian number 1 in the world Novak Djokovic already announced that they did not agree with the decision of the Wimbledon organizers.
Banning Russian or Belarusian players will not change the war in Ukraine. They’d better give all the prize money to humanitarian aid, to the families who are having a hard time, to the children who are suffering. I think at least that will trigger something.”
Rublev’s compatriot Daria Kasatkina, on the other hand, put the Wimbledon exclusion into perspective earlier in the day. “There are worse things happening in the world right now,” she said at the WTA tournament in Stuttgart on Thursday. “People’s lives remain the most important, even though I don’t immediately see how this decision could have an impact on the situation. It goes without saying that the tennis players are disappointed because they cannot participate in Wimbledon.”
Svitolina
The Ukrainian Elina Svitolina has announced that she is against the barring of all Russian and Belarusian tennis players. “We don’t want them to be completely banned. Only if players do not speak out against the Russian government is it the right choice to ban them from participating,” she said. BBC†
“We just want them to speak out whether they support us and the rest of the world or support the Russian government. That is the most important point for me. If they did not elect or vote for this government, then it is fair that they are allowed to participate.”
Principle
On Wednesday, tennis associations ATP and WTA already claimed that Wimbledon is guilty of discrimination based on nationality. “A fundamental principle of the WTA is that tennis players can participate in tournaments based on their performance, without any form of discrimination. Individual athletes should not be punished or hindered because of their origin or as a result of decisions by the government of their country,” the WTA said.
Wimbledon starts on Monday 27 June.
Belarusian union calls exclusion ‘incitement to hatred’
The exclusion of Russian and Belarusian tennis players “only incites hatred and bigotry.” That is what the Belarusian tennis federation ruled in a statement. “Such actions do not contribute to the resolution of the conflict.”
The federation also said it will hire lawyers “to ensure that Belarusian tennis players around the world are protected.” Belarusian tennis star Viktoria Azarenka reached the semifinals at Wimbledon twice, in 2011 and 2012.