BREAKING: Wimbledon bans Russian & Belarusian athletes for 2022

April 20, 2022

ATP Tennis Players, Tennis News, Tennis Tournaments, Wimbledon

BREAKING: Wimbledon bans Russian and Belarusian athletes for 2022 event

The decision has been made that Russian and Belarusian athletes will be barred from competing at Wimbledon 2022 according to a breaking report.

Such a move would be a big break from convention on the ATP and WTA tours at the moment, as well as the other Slams.

It would stop world number two Daniil Medvedev from playing the event, having reached the quarter-finals last year, as well as Roland Garros finalist Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and ATP number eight Andrey Rublev.

WTA world number four Aryna Sabalenka and two-time Slam champion Victoria Azarenka will also be affected by the rule as Belarusians.

So far, since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, individual Russian, and Belarusian, athletes have been allowed to play on tour as neutral competitors, while their national federations have been suspended from the ITF.

Wimbledon 2022 without…….

Sabalenka??
Pavlyuchenkova??
Azarenka??
Kasatkina??
Kudermetova??
Samsunova??
Alexandrova??
Sasnovich??
Gracheva??
Kalinskaya??
Rakhimova??
Zvonareva??
Potapova??
Medvedev??
Khachanov??
Karatsev??
Rublev??
Ivashka??
Gerasimov??

— Chris Goldsmith (@TheTennisTalker) April 20, 2022

The news comes from a Sportico report, which claims the move will take place “according to someone familiar with the decision, who was granted anonymity because the conversations were private.”

In March, UK sports minister Nigel Huddleston said he was in discussions with the All England Club, the organisers of Wimbledon, on potentially banning Russians from the 2022 event.

However, there was a suggested caveat that Russians could play should they publicly denounce Vladimir Putin and oppose the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

That appears to now be irrelevant as the report suggests there will be a blanket ban of Russian pros.