Wimbledon is reportedly considering reversing bans on Russian and Belarusian players following the latest action from the ATP, according to The Daily Mail. On Wednesday, the LTA – the governing body for tennis in Great Britain – announced that the ATP handed them a $1 million fine for not allowing Russian and Belarusian players to compete in its events this summer.
In April, the AELTC announced their decision to ban Russian and Belarusian players from competing at Wimbledon. Shortly after, the LTA also announced that Russian and Belarusian players were also banned from competing in all British grass-court events.
Before the ATP fined the LTA, the WTA handed a $750k fine to the LTA and a $250k fine to the AELTC. In their message to the LTA, the ATP threatened to stop hosting official tournaments in Great Britain. According to The Daily Mail, the feeling among Wimbledon chiefs now is that “they may have to back down.”
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On Wednesday, the LTA issued a statement following the ATP’s fine. In their statement, the LTA called out the ATP for “showing a surprising lack of empathy for the situation in Ukraine.”
“The LTA is deeply disappointed with this outcome. The ATP, in its finding, has shown no recognition of the exceptional circumstances created by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, or the international sporting community and UK Government’s response to that invasion.
The ATP appear to regard this matter as a straightforward breach of their rules – with a surprising lack of empathy shown for the situation in Ukraine, and a clear lack of understanding of the unique circumstances the LTA faced.
The financial impact of both this fine and the WTA’s fine will have a material impact on the LTA’s ability to develop and host tennis in this country. For example, we had intended to host a number of ATP Challenger level events to give more opportunities to lower ranked players in the first quarter of 2023 and will now not be able to do this, particularly given the possibility of further fines.
We will carefully consider our response and we await the outcome of our appeal against the WTA’s decision and sanction,” the LTA said in its statement.
