Wimbledon 2023: All England Club on Tuesday announced that Russian and Belarusian players have to sign declaration in order to compete at this year’s Wimbledon Championships. They further said several players on the tour have already signed personal declarations and can therefore compete as neutral athletes. Wimbledon had announced last month that it they will lift the ban imposed on Russian and Belarusian athletes that stopped them from participating last year. Follow Wimbledon 2023 Live Updates on InsideSport.IN
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Wimbledon 2023: Club Chairman Ian Hewitt on their decision
“This was an incredibly difficult decision, I think our statement on March 31 set out the position as clearly as we could, namely that there were a combination of factors and it was a combination of factors and developments since last year which led to our decision.” he told the reporters at the pre-tournament Spring media conference.
The decision to ban players from competing resulted in ranking points being stripped from the events and the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) being handed by both the men’s and women’s governing bodies, the ATP and WTA.
To play this year’s Wimbledon, Russian and Belarusian players will have to agree to compete as neutrals and not to make any statements that support the war or their countries and can not receive funding from their national or state-supported businesses.
All England Club CEO on how they came about this decision
Sally Bolton, the AELTC CEO said, “As soon as we made the announcement players were able to sign the declarations and they are able to right up until the entry deadline. I won’t share the details of who but a number of players have already signed.”
“We listened to the feedback from athletes from last year and that was that they wanted the choice to be able to sign the declaration. They fully understand what they are signing up to.” she further said.
Bolton said that she had personally spoken to several Ukrainian players and majority of them understood the situation the club was in and supported their decision to overturn the ban.
Wimbledon 2023 to aid to Ukraine and Ukrainian Players
Wimbledon have decided to accommodate Ukraine players and covers their cost during the course of the whole British grass-court season. For every ticket sold, a pound will be donated to the Ukraine relief. It is estimated that around 500,000 pounds can be donated ($621,150.00).
