Tennis players from Russia and Belarus are not allowed to take part in the Grand Slam tournament in Wimbledon this year. The organizers decided this because of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine. Top players like Daniil Medvedev or Andrey Rublev are therefore not allowed to play in London, even though they had already spoken out actively against the war.
Dirk Hordorff, Vice President of the German Tennis Association, criticized the solo effort of the Wimbledon organizers on Deutschlandfunk. Russian and Belarusian players are still allowed to compete in other tennis tournaments. “It is extremely unfortunate that tennis does not speak with one voice. A few weeks ago, Wimbledon made a statement with the other Grand Slam tournaments, the ITF, the WTA and the ATP, among others, on how they intend to handle the matter . The seven parties involved have agreed on a solution and now Wimbledon has resolved it on its own,” said Hordorff.
Action must have consequences
The actions of those responsible for Wimbledon must therefore have consequences, according to Hordorff. For example, no world ranking points could be awarded in Wimbledon “because not everyone can play there. And that would be unfair if some could collect world ranking points and others not.”
The situation would be different if the tennis world as a whole had decided to exclude Russian and Belarusian athletes, Hordorff said. “Then you couldn’t criticize Wimbledon, although I’m very careful. I grew up with the idea that you shouldn’t punish anyone for their origin, their religion, their beliefs. And you have to think for yourself before you punish entire sections of the population, whether that’s the case is right. Regardless, there are limits.”
Hordorff is “quite” of the opinion that sport cannot solve any political problems. Nevertheless, sport must “be aware of what it is doing, where it is doing it and that it has a responsibility. But you cannot blame it for the solution.”
Sport must “have an attitude”
Tennis and sport would not end the war, Hordorff said. “But he has to have an attitude, but that’s what he has.” There is no dispute that sport condemns aggressive war. “The only question is, should people who have nothing to do with it, who, like Rublev, even condemn the war, be banned from working and should they be punished? You can have different opinions on that and I accept every point of view. But I don’t think that it’s good if everyone handles it separately, but tennis should have a common answer.”
The fact that the world association ITF has not yet commented is a “joke. They made the statement and have not commented since then after the Wimbledon statement. But the world association has to anticipate that.”