After Wimbledon, under pressure from the British government, confirmed that it would not allow Russian and Belarusian players to participate in the grass-court tennis tournament this summer, the governing bodies for the men’s and women’s tours both expressed concern about the decision.
The ATP, which runs the men’s tour, called it “unfair” and said it had “the potential to set a damaging precedent for the game.”
The WTA, which oversees the women’s tour, said: “Individual athletes should not be penalized or prevented from competing due to where they are from or the decisions made by the governments of their countries. Discrimination, and the decision to focus such discrimination against athletes competing on their own as individuals, is neither fair nor justified.”
On Sunday, the top men’s players Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal added their voices to the criticism.
“It’s not their fault what’s happening in this moment with the war,” Nadal, a 21-time Grand Slam winner, said in Spain, calling some of the affected players “my Russian teammates, my colleagues.”
“I’m sorry for them,” Nadal said. “Wimbledon just took their decision. The government didn’t force them to do it.”