Wimbledon bans Russian and Belarusian tennis players from 2022 championships including men’s No.2 Daniil Medvedev and women’s No.4 Aryna Sabalenka

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Russian and Belarusian tennis stars will be unable to compete at this year’s Wimbledon.

The All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC) announced in a statement about it’s ‘deep regret’ to make the decision following the ongoing war in Ukraine.


Medvedev is one of the biggest names who will miss out at Wimbledon

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Men’s world number two Daniil Medvedev of Russia and women’s world number four Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus will be among those affected by the decision.

All England Club chairman Ian Hewitt said: “We recognise that this is hard on the individuals affected, and it is with sadness that they will suffer for the actions of the leaders of the Russian regime.

“We have very carefully considered the alternative measures that might be taken within the UK Government guidance but, given the high profile environment of The Championships, the importance of not allowing sport to be used to promote the Russian regime and our broader concerns for public and player (including family) safety, we do not believe it is viable to proceed on any other basis at The Championships.”


There will be no Russians or Belarusians at Wimbledon this year

AFP

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Wimbledon runs from June 27 to July 10 and organisers said that the decision would be reconsidered if circumstances ‘change materially’ between now and June.

It also welcomed the LTA’s decision to also ban players from Russia and Belarus from its UK events this summer.

Other affected players will include Russians Andrey Rublev and Karen Khachanov, eighth and 26th in the ATP rankings respectively.

On the women’s side, Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (ranked 15th) and Belarusian Victoria Azarenka (18th) will also miss out.


Source: TalkSport.com Tennis