Wimbledon’s decision to bar Russian and Belarusian athletes sets a bad precedent

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.

In a statement released Wednesday, the AELTC revealed that the decision was made in an effort to “limit Russia’s global influence through the strongest means possible”.

“In the circumstances of such unjustified and unprecedented military aggression, it would be unacceptable for the Russian regime to derive any benefits from the involvement of Russian or Belarusian players with the Championships,” Wimbledon said in the statement.

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. It is a form of discrimination that serves little purpose other than to fuel the Kremlin’s victim complex and strengthen Russian propaganda narrative of Western Russophobia.

The ban was also met with strong disapproval by the men’s and women’s tour, as well as some of the sport’s leading athletes and former champions. The Women’s Tennis Association said that the ban was “neither fair nor justified,” while the Association of Tennis