[Aileen]

JOINT STATEMENT BY THE INTERNATIONAL GOVERNING BODIES OF TENNIS
TUESDAY 1 MARCH 2022

©Amélie Laurin/FFT

A deep sense of distress, shock and sadness has been felt across the entire tennis community following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in the past week.

Our thoughts are with the people of Ukraine, and we commend the many tennis players who have spoken out and taken action against this unacceptable act of aggression. We echo their calls for the violence to end and peace to return.

The safety of the tennis community is our most immediate collective priority. The focus of the WTA and ATP in particular in recent days has been on contacting current and former players, and other members of the tennis community from Ukraine and neighbouring countries, to check on their safety and offer any assistance.

The international governing bodies of tennis stand united in our condemnation of Russia’s actions and, as a result, are in agreement with the following decisions and actions:

The WTA and ATP Boards have made the decision to suspend the WTA / ATP combined event, scheduled this October in Moscow.

The ITF Board voted to suspend the Russian Tennis Federation and Belarus Tennis Federation membership and to withdraw their entries from all ITF international team competition until further notice. This action follows the cancellation of all ITF tournaments in Russia and Belarus indefinitely.

At this time, players from Russia and Belarus will continue to be allowed to compete in international tennis events on Tour and at the Grand Slams. However, they will not compete under the name or flag of Russia or Belarus until further notice.

https://www.rolandgarros.com/en-us/article/joint-statement-by-international-governing-bodies-of-tennis-on-russia

[moonglow]

I really do hope that Daniil Medledev will continue to be able to play matches and to win them, and therefore continue to keep his newly acquired number 1 ranking.  If he lost a match and therefore lost his ranking that would be a shame, but I really wouldn't want him to drop down the rankings because of not being allowed to play because of a war with Ukraine.
I also would want Andrey Rublev to go on playing also Karen Khachanov and Alexander Bublik and Aslan Karatsev.  These are all very good players and I wouldn't want to be without them. Rublev is particularly good these days.
& then I remember Marat Safin, who could forget him??!  He gave us a lot of pleasure over the years.  I remember too Yevgeny Kafelnikov, Mikhail Youhzny and Dmityr Tursonov.  These players are retired now but as a tennis fan they're all memorable, they might still have an interest in tennis, I'm sure they'll want the tour to continue as usual and for the current Russian players to be able to play and win matches wherever possible.

[Aileen]

I really do hope that Daniil Medledev will continue to be able to play matches and to win them, and therefore continue to keep his newly acquired number 1 ranking.  If he lost a match and therefore lost his ranking that would be a shame, but I really wouldn't want him to drop down the rankings because of not being allowed to play because of a war with Ukraine.
I also would want Andrey Rublev to go on playing also Karen Khachanov and Alexander Bublik and Aslan Karatsev.  These are all very good players and I wouldn't want to be without them. Rublev is particularly good these days.
& then I remember Marat Safin, who could forget him??!  He gave us a lot of pleasure over the years.  I remember too Yevgeny Kafelnikov, Mikhail Youhzny and Dmityr Tursonov.  These players are retired now but as a tennis fan they're all memorable, they might still have an interest in tennis, I'm sure they'll want the tour to continue as usual and for the current Russian players to be able to play and win matches wherever possible.

The last paragraph of the statement says -

"At this time, players from Russia and Belarus will continue to be allowed to compete in international tennis events on Tour and at the Grand Slams. However, they will not compete under the name or flag of Russia or Belarus until further notice."

So therefore Medvedev, Rublev and others can continue playing as individuals.

[Aileen]

^ To me speaking out for peace does signify that they are condemning the invasion,.although I realise that some might not see it that way and so cause trouble at tournaments particularly with Medvedev who isn't too popular anyway. Doesn't it occur to you though that if they wore Ukrainian colours they could be seen as traitors in their own countries?

[boogers]

I think it's easy to underestimate just how hard it is for Russian celebrities to criticise the regime. There's a lot of blowback.

[Aileen]

It's a bit sad looking at the tennis rankings, men as well as women, to see blanks beside the names of players from Russia and Belarus, and I don't care to think how they must feel to be rendered effectively stateless thanks to the actions of the leaders of their respective countries.

[Aileen]

Wimbledon is defending its decision to ban Russian and Belarusian players in response to protests by the ATP and WTA, who have it in their remit to remove ranking points from SW19 and other grass court tournaments over the ban.   If they do that then Wimbledon, Queens, etc, would effectively become exhibition tournaments. which is just nonsense!  Also spectators pay good money to see all these players, so will Wimbledon lose money over their adherence to the governments' guidelines?

https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/tennis/wimbledon-defends-decision-ban-russian-belarusian-players-ukraine-war-b996293.html

Andy, Djokovic, Federer, Nadal and Zverev have also spoken out against this ban, although Andy isn't really sure about the best way to deal with this situation, bless him!

[Aileen]

Does anyone know if a decision has been made by the ATP? The government seems quite happy to support our teams going to the World Cup in Qatar.  The stadia have been built by what can only be described as slave labour and human rights aren’t exactly high on the agenda for its own citizens. 

The argument used is that politics shouldn’t interfere with sport.   Unless, of course it suits their agenda.

Well, exactly! - and also the government wouldn't dare deprive footie fans of their beloved sport otherwise there would be an uproar,

I don't think the WTA want to take any action against Wimbledon but the ATP are in favour of every sanction going, so things could get quite interesting here!