The AELTC’s decision to ban athletes based purely on their nationality sets a troubling precedent that penalizes individual athletes for decisions made by their governments
On Wednesday, the All England Lawn Tennis Club – best known as the venue for the Wimbledon Championships – took the decision to ban Russian and Belarusian athletes from competing at the grass court grand slam event due to the countries’ role in the ongoing war in Ukraine.
The controversial decision, which marked first time players have been barred from competing on grounds of their nationality since German and Japanese players were excluded in the aftermath of World War II, meant that men’s world No 2 Daniil Medvedev and No 8 Andrey Rublev from Russia, as well as women’s fourth-ranked Aryna Sabalenka and world No 18 Victoria Azarenka of Belarus will be among those banned from the tournament.