Wimbledon announced on Friday that despite the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, they would accept Russian and Belarussian involvement under certain conditions this year, reflecting the policy of other Grand Slam events.
“Our current intention is to accept participation from Russian and Belarusian players provided they compete as neutral athletes and meet the relevant conditions,” wrote the AELTC (All England Lawn Tennis Club) in a statement.
“They will be prohibited from expressing their support for the Russian invasion of Ukraine and that players receiving financial aid from Russia or Belarus to take part in the tournament will not be admitted on the London lawn.” they added.
“We still totally condemn the illegal invasion by Russia and we maintain our deep support for the people of Ukraine,” AELTC President Ian Hewitt said.
The British government had refused Russian and Belarusian players last year’s, angering the governing bodies of the men’s ATP and women’s WTA professional circuits.
They had decided to deprive the London tournament of ATP and WTA ranking points by insisting on the rupture, induced by the Wimbledon decision, of the fundamental principle of equity between all players to take part in all tournaments in according to their merit and without discrimination.
The AELTC on Friday confirmed that its 2022 decision had provoked a strong reaction of disappointment from certain tennis governing bodies and that to repeat the ban this year would have had damaging consequences for the interest players, fans, the Wimbledon tournament and British tennis.
Wimbledon had been the only one of the four Grand Slam tournaments to refuse Russian and Belarusian players in 2022. They had been able to take part under a neutral banner at the Australian Open, Roland-Garros and United States Open.
