MIKE DICKSON: Russia-Ukraine storm clouds hang over Wimbledon

MIKE DICKSON: Russia-Ukraine storm clouds hang over Wimbledon as Russian and Belarusian players are invited back for the first time since the start of the conflict

• Wimbledon was previously stripped of ranking points after their 2022 player ban
• Organisations such as the WTA have been accused of not supporting Ukrainians
• MATCH POINT: Watch out Wimbledon – Russian turmoil is heading your way 

Ukrainian tennis player Denys Molchanov awoke at the Dubai Championships on February 24 last year to find himself in a strange situation – his country had been invaded by that of his doubles partner, Andrey Rublev.

The Russian player was to go on and win the singles title that week, and as the world shook he scrawled on a TV camera lens ‘No War Please’, before leaving the court.

And thus began a traumatic phase in the sport’s history. Its latest chapter unfolds this coming fortnight at Wimbledon, which this summer has been forced to reverse its ban on players from the two aggressor nations.

As we now know, Rublev’s plea went unheeded, and his gesture of solidarity did not turn out to be the precursor to some sort of peaceful accommodation within the locker room among different factions.

Within weeks the two most prominent Ukrainian male players of recent years, Sergiy Stakhovsky and Alex Dolgopolov, had taken up arms. On the women’s side (which currently has far more elite Ukrainian players) it quickly became clear that they would use their voices to express disgust at events their homeland.

Elina Svitolina (right) refused to shake the hand of her Belarusian opponent Aryna Sabalenka at the French Open and Wimbledon is set to see more protests

Early gestures of solidarity such as Andrey Rublev’s anti-war message have all but fallen away

That has continued ever since, and the female locker room remains a fractious place of bitter recriminations between those on different sides of the war.

The most obvious expression of this which will be seen at Wimbledon is the refusal to shake hands at the net, and that has been the commonplace anti-climax to many highly-charged matches between them around the tour.

Off the court the All England Club waits anxiously to see if protests materialise inside or outside the grounds over the next two weeks. The SW19 crowd, not exactly known for its militant tendency, may not take kindly to those from Russia and Belarus. Or they may take the view that the sins of their government should not be visited on the players.

At least Wimbledon tried to do something last year, taking the unprecedented step of banning players to avoid any propaganda victories.

The All England, however, was to find itself somewhat friendless within the game’s parish, despite this being the most high profile sport in which Russians and Ukrainians frequently compete against each other.

Ranking points were stripped from last year’s event, and for 2023 it was made clear that all UK tournaments stood to lose their licenses if there was any repeat.

According to senior sources in the game a hard line was taken by the men’s and women’s tours after receiving indications last year that events in around six other nations were set to follow Wimbledon’s lead.

Being member-led organisations, they took the decision to close ranks. While other sports opted for far more robust action in denying the right of those from Russia and Belarus to compete, history will record that most of tennis, hermetically sealed as ever, chose to look the other way.

Alex Dolgopolov enlisted in the army to serve on the front line after retiring from tennis 

One man sported a ‘Z’ insignia t-shirt – a pro-Russian military symbol – while watching an Australian Open match between Novak Djokovic and Rublev

If Wimbledon found itself without allies, then so did the Ukrainian women in the locker room, who struggled to understand why they were not meeting with more empathy, especially from their leadership on the WTA Tour.

Given that so few Russian players have said anything against the war – out of understandable fear in many cases, although their female number one Daria Kasatkina has been braver than most – suspicion has been rife about who really believes what.

In a remarkable interview with Mail Sport before Christmas Dolgopolov, who is currently on the front line as a drone operator, summed up a widespread feeling: ‘ The tennis players haven’t spoken up but we know some of them support the war,’ he said. His country’s players recently clubbed together to buy his unit expensive night vision goggles.

He, Stakhovsky and female Ukrainian counterparts have found themselves regularly abused on social media, and they say that some of the worst invective comes from Serbian fans.

In an embarrassing incident at January’s Australian Open, a large gathering of Novak Djokovic supporters turned into a pro-Russia rally. Djokovic’s father went out to greet them, and posed for a photo in front of a flag with Vladimir Putin’s face on it, although he later claimed it was all some sort of misunderstanding.

By March this year, as the tour moved to the hard courts of America, frustrations and emotions within the female player cohort were starting to boil over.

Ukraine’s Lesia Tsurenko was due to play the now Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus at Indian Wells in California, but withdrew at the last minute.

Lesia Tsurenko (left) had a conversation with WTA CEO Steve Simon (right) about the conflict that prompted her later withdrawal from Indian Wells in March

She later revealed that she had suffered a panic attack, and laid the blame at the door of WTA Tour Chief Executive Steve Simon, who has close links to the influential Victoria Azarenka, the former world number one from Belarus and prominent player council member.

‘A few days ago I had a conversation with Steve Simon,’ said Tsurenko. ‘ I was absolutely shocked by what I heard from him. I couldn’t pull myself together. I had a panic attack when it was time to go out there.

‘He added that he himself would be feeling terrible if he was in my shoes, and while he doesn’t support the war personally, if the players from Russia and Belarus do support it, he said, this is only their own opinion and the opinion of others should not upset me.’

Simon once won plaudits for his firm stance on the disappearance of former Wimbledon doubles champion Peng Shuai in China, but his inaction on the Ukraine issue had spoken volumes.

He denied lacking sympathy for his Ukrainian members, but they continued to complain that their requests for meetings were being ignored.

Meanwhile Sabalenka spoke of the prevailing atmosphere within the inner confines: ‘It was really, really tough for me because I’ve never faced that much hate in the locker room,’ she said. ‘ I had some, not like fights, but I had some weird conversations with, not the girls, but with members of their team. It was really tough.’

That brought about a terse response from one of the Ukrainians’ steadfast supporters, world number one Iga Swiatek from Poland, who wears its flag on her cap.

‘Everything we discuss in tennis is about Belarusian and Russian players,’ she pointed out.

World No 1 Iga Swiatek has worn her support for Ukraine on her cap since the start of the war

Sabalenka was allowed shirk press obligations after a grilling from a Ukrainian journalist

That statement rang true, because the impression had been given that their rights are outranking those from a country whose tennis facilities, among many other things, have been destroyed by Russian missiles.

The issue again surged to the forefront at the recent French Open in Paris when Sabalenka, also one of the favourites to win Wimbledon, was allowed to skip several post-match press conferences after being grilled about the war early in the tournament by a journalist from Ukraine.

Now everyone is reconvening at Wimbledon, where players from Russia and Belarus have been asked to sign declarations of neutrality. According to player representatives there have not been any issues with securing visas from the UK government to enter the country.

It remains to be seen how they will be received when the crowds come in, as on the other side of Europe one significant tennis nation continues its brutal invasion of another significant tennis nation, with still no end to it. Somehow you doubt there will be too many punnets of strawberries and cream being consumed in Ukraine this coming fortnight.

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