Wimbledon to offer support to Ukraine after decision to allow Russians and Belarusians to compete
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ByEurosport
Published 25/04/2023 at 16:51 GMT
The All England Club (AELTC) and the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) will give support to Ukrainian competitors for the whole grass-court season and will donate to Ukrainian causes in response to a decision to allow both Russian and Belarusian players to compete at Wimbledon this year. The two countries' players were banned last year because of the war in Ukraine.
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Wimbledon announced the “difficult decision” to allow Russian and Belarusian players to compete at this year’s Grand Slam in SW19. As a result of lifting the ban, the AELTC will donate at least £500,000 to charities for Ukraine and fund accommodation for Ukrainian players at Wimbledon.
The All England Club (AELTC) and the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) banned players from the two countries at last year’s event as a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the support from Belarus.
The LTA was punished last year for the ban as Wimbledon was given fines by the WTA and ATP, while ranking points were also removed from the tournament.
"This was an incredibly difficult decision. I personally say that I found this probably the most difficult decision during my chairmanship," chairman Ian Hewitt said at a press conference.
Hewitt explained that £1 from every ticket would go to Ukrainian relief and pay for two hotel rooms for each Ukrainian player who takes part at Wimbledon from the qualifying rounds onwards, for the whole of the grass-court season, amongst other initiatives.
Russian and Belarusian players will be required to sign a declaration that they are neutral over the matter, that they will not show support for the war or receive funding from their states or state-backed companies, and the countries’ flags are both banned from the venue.
"We listened very much to the feedback from last year," AELTC chief executive Sally Bolton said. "And that feedback from the [Russian and Belarusian] athletes was that they wanted the choice to be able to sign the declaration.
"We've spent a significant amount of time engaging with those players to ensure that they fully understand what they're signing up to. And, at this point, we have a number of players who are in the process of signing them or have signed."
Other changes have been made for the tournament. Security has been changed in light of recent protests at sporting events, the men’s doubles matches have been reduced to best-of-three sets, the wheelchair event runs to five days not four to allow for extra recovery, female players can wear dark under-shorts, there will be a trial of on-court coaching and players will be given refillable water bottles.
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