Threatened with expulsion: why Wimbledon organizers thought about admitting Russians and Belarusians to the tournament in 2023

We can say that 2022 in the world of tennis was marked by a struggle for the rights of Russian and Belarusian athletes, supported by the WTA and ATP.

The organizations, although they banned the symbols, allowed players from these countries to participate in competitions in a neutral status and kept them in the international rankings.

However, this position was not shared by all.

In particular, the British Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) refused to allow athletes to Wimbledon, clearly not expecting serious resistance from the WTA and ATP.

But it arose, and the players who opposed any discrimination influenced the situation even more.

Although they were also under pressure.

It has not been possible to find a compromise solution.

As a result, LTA, under pressure from the government, did not allow the athletes of the two countries to the Grand Slam tournament, but because of this, he lost his rating points.

Despite this punishment, world stars still came to the UK, although without the suspended tennis players, the intensity of the struggle was not the same.

And in the women's part of the competition, ironically, the former Russian woman Elena Rybakina, who has been representing Kazakhstan in recent years, won.

Five months have passed since the end of Wimbledon 2022, and it seems that a new confrontation is beginning between the organizations, which concerns the next season.

On Wednesday, December 7, the ATP issued a fine of $1 million to the British for exclusion from tournaments under its auspices of tennis players from Russia and Belarus.

Earlier, a similar decision was made by the WTA.

Only the amount was divided into two parts: in addition to the LTA, the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club (AELTC) was also punished.

In addition, the British were threatened with expulsion from both organizations if they did the same next year.

According to The Telegraph, this move made LTA officials think about the appropriateness of the suspension of athletes.

It is noted that the organization is tired of "fighting the whole world" and may soon reconsider its position.

First, it was affected by financial sanctions.

On the one hand, paying $2 million to the Lawn Tennis Association, according to Russian specialists, is not difficult.

As Andrei Chesnokov, semi-finalist of Roland Garros-1989, noted, the income from the Grand Slam tournament is much higher.

However, the LTA was outraged by the decision of the WTA and ATP, since these funds were planned to be invested in lower-level competitions - challengers.

“The financial implications of both this fine and the fine imposed by the WTA will have a significant impact on the LTA's ability to organize and host tennis events in this country.

For example, we planned to organize a number of ATP Challenger-level events to give more opportunities to lower-ranked players in the first quarter of 2023, but now we will not be able to do this, especially given the likelihood of new sanctions, ”the LTA said in a statement.

However, a possible exclusion from the WTA and ATP is much more dangerous for the LTA, since then only Wimbledon can exist in the UK.

In addition to the Grand Slam tournament, the island annually hosts a large number of international competitions of a lower level.

In 2022, they were not deprived of ranking points, since the Russians and Belarusians had alternative options for where to play.

LTA representatives also have concerns about the fate of Wimbledon: if it falls out of the WTA and ATP calendar, then other competitions will probably be announced in parallel on these dates.

In this case, the world stars who used to go to the UK with pleasure will face a difficult choice.

And if the CBO in Ukraine drags on, there may be a certain depreciation of this tournament.

The source of The Telegraph draws attention to another fact: the organizers of Wimbledon were afraid of any provocations during the tournament.

It was this argument that was one of the key ones when communicating with the British government.

However, the fears were not justified, the athletes throughout the season, including at Roland Garros and the US Open, in spite of everything, behaved as correctly as possible, even when they did not want to shake hands or hung the Ukrainian flag in the stands.

Thus, it is the British who may be the first to lift sanctions against Russians and Belarusians.

And if a precedent is set, there may be a change of mood in other sports, which are also experiencing big problems this season.

In cross-country skiing, after the first starts, there is a drop in interest in the World Cup stages, since only Norwegians win there.

And the stages of the Grand Prix in figure skating no longer gather full stands.