WTA chief guarantees ‘sturdy reactions’ to ban on Russian, Belarusian gamers

Women’s Tennis Association chief Steve Simon known as Wimbledon’s actions “extremely disappointing” and promised them they might see some “strong reaction” to breaking tennis legal guidelines.

The All England Club (AELTC), which organises the grasscourt main, and the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) is not going to enable Russian and Belarusian gamers to compete in occasions within the United Kingdom because of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

Simon advised The Tennis Podcast that the Wimbledon determination was in opposition to Grand Slam guidelines and the settlement they’ve with the match, whereas the LTA, which has WTA sanctioned occasions, violated the bylaws and guidelines relating to athlete entry.

“We don’t have the same jurisdiction over the Grand Slams as we do (over) our own sanctioned events. We have precedents … where these situations may have occurred where fines and tournament sanctions have been imposed,” Simon stated.

“I do think that you’ll see some strong reactions that will come from us but what those are and how far they’ll go is still to be determined.”

Tennis governing our bodies have banned Russia and Belarus from worldwide crew competitions following the invasion, however particular person gamers from the 2 nations are allowed to compete on their respective excursions as neutrals.

Simon stated each the ATP and the WTA are in discussions over the difficulty however the selections can be impartial.

The AELTC, in its assertion asserting the choice, stated it needed to play its half within the efforts of presidency, business, sporting and artistic establishments to “limit Russia’s global influence through the strongest means possible”.

“People take the position that sports and politics shouldn’t match and shouldn’t be intertwined, but that’s not the reality,” Simon stated.

“At times sports does cross into politics and here is a situation where politics is crossing into sports. It is real life.

“The one factor that this sport has all the time agreed upon, we do not agree on a whole lot of issues, however the one factor now we have all the time been united on was that entry into our occasions … has all the time been based mostly on advantage and with out discrimination.”