The most important tennis tournament will take place in 2022 without Russian players. According to consistent media reports, the All England Club will refuse Daniil Medvedev, Andrey Rublev and Co. participation in Wimbledon this year. It is still unclear whether Belarusian athletes will also be affected by the ban.
Such as the “New York Times” and the portal “sporty” report, the tennis tournament in Wimbledon will take place without Russian players this year. This was confirmed by an anonymous person involved in the talks between those responsible.
After the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the world tennis association initially excluded the teams from Russia and Belarus from the team competitions and removed a tournament in Moscow from the calendar. However, individual players are still allowed to start under a neutral flag on the WTA and ATP tours. Wimbledon is the first tournament to suspend this exception rule.
According to the reports, it is still unclear whether the starting ban also affects players from Belarus. The All England Club initially left a “sportico” request unanswered.
Big names could miss Wimbledon
Affected by the exclusion are, among others, the Russian top players Daniil Medvedev (No. 2 in the world rankings) and Andrey Rublev (No. 8) for men and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (No. 15) and Daria Kasatkina (No. 26) for women.
Should athletes from Belarus also be excluded, two co-favorites for the title would also be missing in Wimbledon: Aryna Sabalenka (No. 4) and Victoria Azarenka (No. 18).
British Sports Minister Nigel Huddleston had already announced last month that he wanted to examine the right to start for Russian athletes in Wimbledon. It needs an “assurance that you are not a supporter of Putin,” said the politician.