Wimbledon to ban Russian and Belarus players

Men's tennis world number two Daniil Medvedev is set to be barred from this year's Wimbledon Grand Slam tournament as The Times reported organisers are to ban Russian and Belarus players due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Russian and Belarusian players have been able to continue to compete in ATP and WTA events under a neutral flag since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24.

It was believed this would extend to the three remaining Grand Slam events -- though the ITF banned both countries' teams from the Davis Cup and the Billie Jean King Cup.

However, The Times says sources have told them that after almost two months of talks Wimbledon organisers prefer to ban the players rather than adhere to a compromise solution offered by the British government.

That would have seen the likes of Medvedev and last year's Wimbledon women's singles semi-finalist Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus sign statements that they would not make supportive comments of Russian President Vladimir Putin or the war.

Wimbledon organisers believe signing such statements could impact negatively on the families of the players.

The BBC reported that confirmation of the decision is to come later on Wednesday.

- 'Stop the war' - The Kremlin reacted angrily to the reports deeming it "unacceptable".

"Once again they simply turn athletes into hostages to political prejudice, political intrigues," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. "This is unacceptable."

"Taking into account that Russia is a very strong tennis country, our athletes are at the top of world rankings, the competition itself will suffer from their removal," he added.

It is likely that this ban will apply to all British grass-court tournaments this summer.

The Lawn Tennis Association (LTA), which