Wimbledon Bans Russian and Belarusian Tennis Players amid War in Ukraine

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Russian and Belarusian tennis players will not be allowed to compete in the 2022 Wimbledon championship amid the ongoing invasion of Ukraine, tournament officials announced Wednesday.

"Given the profile of The Championships in the United Kingdom and around the world, it is our responsibility to play our part in the widespread efforts of Government, industry, sporting and creative institutions to limit Russia's global influence through the strongest means possible," Wimbledon officials said in a statement.

"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," the statement continued. "It is therefore our intention, with deep regret, to decline entries from Russian and Belarusian players to The Championships 2022."

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Wimbledon, which is one of the four Grand Slam tournaments, would have seen a number of highly ranked Russian and Belarusian players — No. 2 Daniil Medvedev and No. 15 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia and No. 4 Aryna Sabalenka and No. 18 Victoria Azarenka of Belarus.

The tournament hasn't banned athletes since players from Germany and Japan were barred from competing during World War II, ESPN reports.

Wimbledon is scheduled to kick off June 27 and end July 10. Tournament officials added, "If circumstances change materially between now and June, we will consider and respond accordingly."

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Clive Brunskill/Getty Rafael Nadal and Daniil Medvedev

Following the news, the ATP, which governs men's tennis, condemned the war in Ukraine but criticized Wimbledon's "unilateral" decision.

"Discrimination based on nationality also constitutes a violation of our agreement with Wimbledon that states that player entry is based solely on ATP Rankings," the organization said in a release. "Any course of action in response to this decision will now be assessed in consultation with our board and member councils."

The Women's Tennis Association also released a similar statement, saying, "Individual athletes should not be penalized or prevented from competing due to where they are from, or the decisions made by the governments of their countries."

The ATP and WTA both assured that players from Russia and Belarus will be allowed to compete in their tournaments as neutrals.

Sergei Guneyev/TASS/Getty Russian President Vladimir Putin

The sanction unveiled Wednesday is the latest to be directed at Russia since President Vladimir Putin first began his invasion of Ukraine in late February.

After several countries refused to play against Russia in World Cup qualifying matches, FIFA and UEFA announced that Russian teams were banned from "participation in both FIFA and UEFA competitions until further notice."

"Following the initial decisions adopted by the FIFA Council and the UEFA Executive Committee, which envisaged the adoption of additional measures, FIFA and UEFA have today decided together that all Russian teams, whether national representative teams or club teams, shall be suspended from participation in both FIFA and UEFA competitions until further notice," the international soccer governing bodies said in February. "These decisions were adopted today by the Bureau of the FIFA Council and the Executive Committee of UEFA, respectively the highest decision-making bodies of both institutions on such urgent matters."

"Football is fully united here and in full solidarity with all the people affected in Ukraine," the statement continued. "Both presidents hope that the situation in Ukraine will improve significantly and rapidly so that football can again be a vector for unity and peace amongst people."

Alexander Demianchuk/TASS via Getty Russian men's national soccer team

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Ahead of the decision, FIFA's initial penalties against Russia for the World Cup — neutral matches and a new name for the Russian team — were met with backlash. In response, Poland, the Czech Republic, Sweden and England said they would refuse to play the Russian team in matches.

The 2022 World Cup is scheduled to begin in November.