The Russian and Belarusian tennis players they will be able to continue participating in the tournaments of the men’s circuit of the ATP and the women’s of the WTA, including the ‘Grand Slams’, despite the conflict that is being experienced in Ukraine with the invasion of Russia.
“At this time, players from Russia and Belarus will be able to continue to compete in international circuit events and Grand Slams. However, they will not compete under the name or flag of Russia or Belarus until further notice,” the ATP, WTA, the four Grand Slams and the International Tennis Federation (ITF) said in a joint statement.
This decision of the two professional circuits is not in line with those made by other sports organizations that have prohibited the participation of athletes from Russia and Belarus in response to what is happening in Ukraine.
In this sense, this Monday, the Ukrainian tennis player Elina Svitolina, number 15 in the world, announced that she will refuse to play once morest Russian or Belarusian players unless they compete as neutrals, while Russians like Daniil Medvedev, current number one in the world, Andrey Rublev or Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova have publicly shown their rejection of the invasion.
In addition, the ATP and the WTA have suspended the combined tournament they hold in Moscow in October, while the ITF has suspended the membership of the Russian and Belarusian Federations and has withdrawn “their registrations from all international team competitions. of the ITF until further notice”, in addition to canceling all its tournaments in these two countries “indefinitely”.
All parties expressed “a deep sense of anguish, shock and sadness” following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. “Our thoughts are with the people of Ukraine and we congratulate the many tennis players who have spoken out and taken action once morest this unacceptable act of aggression. We echo their calls for violence to cease and peace to return,” they stressed.
“The safety of the tennis community is our most immediate collective priority. The focus of the WTA and the ATP in particular in recent days has been to contact current and former players, and other members of the tennis community in Ukraine and neighboring countries, to check on their safety and offer any assistance.” .
