MOSCOW, July 3. /TASS/. This season’s third Grand Slam tennis tournament, the 2023 Wimbledon, kicks off on Monday and unlike the previous edition of the tournament last year Russian players were allowed to compete, but under certain conditions.
In 2022, Wimbledon organizers, the AELTC and the LTA, announced a decision to bar Russian and Belarusian players from participating in the 2022 edition of the tournament, citing Russia’s ongoing special military operation in Ukraine as the reason for the ban.
The Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) and Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) in turn announced decisions to strip Wimbledon of ranking points due to its move to ban Russian and Belarusian athletes from competing at the 2022 Grand Slam tournament in London, as it violated the fundamental principles stipulating that players of any nationality can enter tournaments based on their merits and without any type of discrimination. President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Thomas Bach also criticized at that time Wimbledon organizers’ decision to bar players from Russia and Belarus.
This year, Wimbledon organizers - the All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC) and the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) - announced a decision to allow Russian and Belarusian players to participate in the tournament as neutrals and under several conditions.
Specifically, athletes from the two countries should not be "actively supporting" Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine, must compete under a neutral status and must not be financed by the governments of Russia or Belarus, or by state-run companies from either country.
Worries were also voiced previously that many Russians would not play at the Wimbledon as they would be unable to obtain British entry visas, but it was not true. Russian Tennis Federation (RTF) President Shamil Tarpishchev told TASS earlier that all Russian tennis players, who had been seeking to compete in Wimbledon 2023, would take part in this Grand Slam tournament.
"We had an open channel to provide assistance, but nobody turned to us [for help]." Tarpishchev said. "Everyone who wished to play at the Wimbledon will play there… Some players will skip it because the season is played on grass [courts] and is, therefore, a short one. If some of the players had problems with entry visas and they missed preparatory tournaments, then there is no sense in playing there. In this case, it makes more sense to start preparing for the hard [courts]."
The Wimbledon tournament, the most prestigious out of the four Grand Slam tournaments, has been held annually in London since 1877. It took place last year between June 27 and July 10. This year’s Wimbledon runs between July 3 and 16.
Russians at 2023 Wimbledon
Russian players, who entered to play as neutrals at the 2023 Wimbledon are represented in men’s singles by Daniil Medvedev, Andrey Rublev and Aslan Karatsev. Russia’s Karen Khachanov announced earlier that he would skip this year’s Wimbledon because of a bad back.
Six Russian players will play in women’s singles: Daria Kasatkina, Veronika Kudermetova, Lyudmila Samsonova, Yekaterina Aleksandrova, Anastasia Potapova and Mirra Andreeva.