Britain’s LTA fined by ATP for banning Russians, Belarusians from Wimbledon

The ATP on Wednesday fined Britain’s Garden Tennis Affiliation (LTA) 820,000 kilos ($1 million) for banning male gamers from Russia and Belarus from this 12 months’s summer time grasscourt occasions forward of the Championships over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

Gamers had been banned from the UK grass-court tournaments held within the build-up to Wimbledon, which grew to become the primary Grand Slam match to ban particular person rivals from the 2 nations — a transfer that was condemned by the lads’s and girls’s excursions.

“The LTA is deeply upset with this,” the LTA mentioned in a press release.

“The ATP, in its discovering, has proven no recognition of the distinctive circumstances created by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, or the worldwide sporting neighborhood and UK Authorities’s response to that invasion.”

The ATP mentioned in April that the “unilateral determination” by Wimbledon to exclude gamers from Russia and Belarus was unfair and will probably set a harmful precedent for the sport.

UK Tradition Secretary Michelle Donelan mentioned on Wednesday that the overwhelming majority of the worldwide sporting neighborhood had stood “shoulder to shoulder” in condemning Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

“The UK has taken a world-leading position to construct this worldwide response,” Donelan mentioned. “We’re clear that sport can’t be used to legitimise this lethal invasion, and that athletes representing the Russian or Belarusian states must be banned from competing in different nations.

“Regardless of widespread condemnation, the worldwide tennis excursions are decided to be outcasts on this, with funding within the development of our home sport hampered in consequence.

“That is the mistaken transfer by the ATP and WTA. I urge them to consider carefully concerning the message this sends and to rethink.”