‘Stop the monster’: Ukrainian tennis chief backs Wimbledon ban on Russians

A senior Ukrainian tennis official has told his sport’s governing bodies that they will be “playing on the side of the monster” if they go against Wimbledon and the LTA for banning Russian and Belarusian players from this summer’s events.

Evgeniy Zukin, the vice-president of Ukraine’s tennis federation, also contrasted the WTA’s strong comments during the Peng Shuai case with its response to Russia as he warned that tennis risked “being on the wrong side of history”.

Zukin said invading Russian forces had destroyed Ukraine’s national tennis centre in Irpin, near Kyiv, and that there were still unexploded bombs on the courts. But he stressed that such destruction was nothing compared with the daily horrors and deaths since the invasion, as he backed Wimbledon and the LTA’s stance.

“Of course they have made the right decision, and I’m really surprised that the ATP, WTA and a lot of the tennis community don’t understand that. It is accepted that we apply economic sanctions on the nation which started this war, unprovoked with hundreds of war crimes, even though not every Russian is for it. And in sport it cannot be business as usual either.

“If the ATP and WTA share in the values of a free world, of independence and sovereignty, they need to do something in order to stop the monster. Otherwise they will be playing on the side of the monster.”

Those critical of the decision to ban Russians have included Martina Navratilova and Novak Djokovic, while the WTA and the ATP have accused Wimbledon and the LTA of discrimination. However, Zukin said it was a legitimate response given how much Putin’s regime has used sport as a propaganda tool.

“Tennis keeps telling itself it is not responsible. But as long as it allows Russians to