The head of the women’s WTA Tour has come out against any move which would see players from Russia and Belarus being banned from tournaments following the invasion of Ukraine.
Steve Simon has told BBC Sport that he believes that players should not be punished due to “decisions of an authoritarian leadership.” On February 24th Russian launched a military offensive on neighbouring Ukraine and it is speculated that elements within Belarus are supporting them. In the wake of the war there has been an outpouring of condemnation with various sanctions placed on Russia. The International Olympic Committee has also recommended that athletes from those two countries are banned from sporting events.
However, tennis has taken a different approach to the situation. In a joint-decision made by the seven governing bodies, players are allowed to continue playing but only as a neutral athlete. The tennis federations have also been suspended from team events and the Kremlin Cup in Moscow has been suspended until further notice.
“You never know what the future may bring,” Simon told BBC Sport.
“But I can tell you that we have never banned athletes from participating on our tour as the result of political positions their leadership may take.
“So it would take something very, very significant for that to change, but again we don’t know where this is going.”
However, it is possible that Simon’s view of the matter may not be enough. On Tuesday it was confirmed that the British government is looking into the prospect of allowing Russian athletes into their country in order to compete. It has been suggested that if those players do not condemn the war, they may be banned from entering. Daniil Medvedev, Andrey Rublev and others have all called for there to be no war. However, none of them has gone as far as criticizing their government.
“We are talking to various sports about this and what the response should be there,” Sports minister Nigel Huddleston he told the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) committee. “Absolutely, nobody flying the flag for Russia should be allowed or enabled.’
“But I think it needs to go beyond that, I think we need to have some assurance that they are not supporters of Vladimir Putin and we are considering what requirements we may need to get assurances along those lines.” He added.
In Russia authorities have reportedly arrested more than 14,000 people for anti-war protests, according to independent monitoring group OVD-Info. The country’s media regulator has blocked various websites for reporting what they claim is false reporting on a war. Furthermore, organizations have been advised to use the phrase ‘military operation’ and not war. Critics of the war can be fined and even sentenced to prison in some cases.
Simon concedes that if governments implement such rules his organization will have no option but to follow them.
“It will force us to change our position, because obviously we have to follow the rules of government,” said Simon.
“I feel very, very strongly that again these individual athletes should not be the ones that are being penalised by the decisions of an authoritarian leadership that is obviously doing terrible, reprehensible things.
“But if that happens, which is again part of the overall strategy of making Russia, and Russian citizens, pay the consequence for the decision their government has made, then it won’t be something that we support.
“We are hopeful that they will refrain from that because I think there are an awful lot of other issues that go with it.”
The BBC has confirmed that the All England Club, who oversees the running of Wimbledon, is currently involved in discussions with the government regarding this matter. It is unknown as to when a decision will be made.
