Wimbledon's Russian Ban

I don't know how I feel about Wimbledon banning Russian and Belarusian players from this year's tournament.  In a way, I completely understand it.  It's a closed tournament at a private club, so they're allowed to do whatever they want, and that includes excluding players based on nationality.  I also completely get the criticism of the decision.  Because it's not like Daniil Medvedev and Aryna Sabalenka had anything to do with the invasion of Ukraine, but they're being punished for it anyway.

It's worth noting that Medvedev, Sabylena, Andrey Rublev, Vika Azarenka and all other Russian/Belarusian players have been allowed to continue playing on tour.  They've simply had the flag and country code next to their name replaced by a blank white box.  That will, presumably, continue until the international sanctions on Russia are lifted (whenever that happens).

Tennis, in fact, is one of the few sports that hasn't completely blacklisted all Russians and Belarusians.  They were banned from the World Figure Skating Championships (where the Russians obviously would've performed extremely well).  They were also barred from the World Indoor Track & Field Championships.  And, let's not forget, Russia was prohibited from playing in the European playoffs for the World Cup.  They've also been banned from the World Ice Hockey Championships and Volleyball World League, among many, many other events.

Both the ATP and WTA Tours had a chance to follow suit.  Both chose not to.  So, it's not surprising that both tours were among the biggest critics of the decision.  The ATP called it "unfair" and said it could set a "damaging precedent for the game," while the WTA reaffirmed that it was "very disappointed" and reiterated its stance that "individual athletes should not be penalized or prevented from competing due to where they are from, or the decisions made by the governments of their countries."

If only it were that easy.  While completely unrelated to the Ukraine invasion, Russian athletes have been "penalized or prevented from competing due to where they are from" for the better part of a decade.  It was 2015 when World Athletics suspended the Russian federation, forcing Russian athletes to apply for "Authorized Neutral Athlete" status (which is currently suspended), and let's not forget about the ridiculous "OAR" and "ROC" designations at the last three Olympics!

This is much different, though.  As I said when the invasion first started and the IOC "recommended" that international federations "consider" sanctions against Russian athletes in response, it's impossible to keep sports and politics separate.  As much as Russian officials might want to argue that they "should be" kept separate, you simply can't.  They're too interconnected.

In its statement, the All England Club pretty much admitted that this is completely political.  The statement read: "In the circumstances of such unjustified and unprecedented military aggression, it would be unacceptable for the Russian regime to derive any benefit from the involvement of Russian or Belarusian players with The Championships.  It is therefore our intention, with deep regret, to decline entries from Russian and Belarusian players to The Championships 2022."  Which, again, is completely their right, whether you agree with it or not.

They also cited concerns about player safety, but, they admitted that they made the decision after consulting with the UK Government.  If the government was OK with them playing, I'm sure Wimbledon's decision would've been different.  But the government clearly has an issue with allowing them to play, so the tournament's hands were kind of tied.

The Lawn Tennis Association, which is the governing body for the sport in Great Britain, took it even further, in fact.  It's not just Wimbledon.  They can't enter any tournament played in the country, which includes all of the Wimbledon tune-up events (although, I'm not sure why you would even want to enter a grass court tournament knowing you can't play Wimbledon anyway).

Also worth noting here is that this is a completely different situation than Novak Djokovic's Australian Open saga.  All the Djokovic stuff was about Australia's vaccine mandate, which applied to all foreigners entering the country.  Not surprisingly, the (still) unvaccinated Djokovic has spoken out in opposition of Wimbledon's decision (of course, we still don't know about his status for the tournament, either).

Djokovic made a conscious choice to not get vaccinated, and he's dealt with the consequences of that decision (he also wasn't allowed to enter the U.S. for the important Spring tournaments in Indian Wells and Miami).  These Russian and Belarusian players, meanwhile, haven't done anything to warrant their exclusion.  They're being excluded strictly because of their nationality.  Which is why the people who are saying it's unfair to those players have a point!

While the All England Club is taking this stance now, that doesn't necessarily mean that Medvedev, Rublev, etc., are definitely out of Wimbledon.  They left themselves with an out, saying that if circumstances "change materially" between now and mid-June, which is the Wimbledon entry deadline, the tournament "will consider and respond accordingly."  It seems doubtful that the circumstances will change, but I can see some legal challenges and a judge's decision potentially forcing them to change their minds.

So, like I said, I'm torn.  It is unfortunate and, yes, unfair, to penalize Russian and Belarusian athletes for the actions of their governments.  But that, unfortunately, is the only mechanism international sporting federations have to get their point across.  The ATP and WTA Tours, however, haven't banned Russian and Belarusian players.  As such, Wimbledon's decision to ban players from just those two nations goes against the tournament's agreement with each (although, it should be noted, the Grand Slams are administered by the International Tennis Federation, NOT the ATP and WTA).

Wimbledon organizers were put in a very tough spot here.  They were stuck with two unpopular options.  Either ban the Russian and Belarusian players for no reason other than their nationality or let them play and be prepared to answer why.  They picked option A.  Was it the right one, though?  That's the real question.  And the answer is entirely a matter of opinion.