Wimbledon’s Russian ban ‘changed nothing’ as Belarusian sends message

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Aryna Sabalenka has slammed the decision by Wimbledon to ban Russian and Belarusian athletes from last year’s tournament stating that the tough stance ‘changed nothing’ to combat the war in Ukraine. The Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) and All England Lawn Tennis Club were subsequently fined by tennis authorities and stripped of its men’s and women’s ranking points after making the decision to ban athletes from both countries from competing.

Belarusian tennis star Sabalenka reached the Wimbledon semi-final in 2021 and pledged that ‘no one’ supports the war in Ukraine which her native country have been complicit in. She feels that Wimbledon’s decision punished athletes who have ‘zero control’ on the political situation in Ukraine.

Speaking to Australian newspaper The Age she said: “This is really terrible because no one supports war – no one. The problem is that we have to speak loud about that…but why should we scream about that in every corner? It’s not going to help at all. We have zero control under this situation.

“I’m just really disappointed sport is somehow in politics. We’re just athletes playing their sport. That’s it. We’re not about politics. If all of us could do something, we would do it, but we have zero control. They banned us from Wimbledon, and what did it change? Nothing – they’re (the Russian government) still doing this, and this is the sad (part) of this situation.”

Sabalenka, aged 24, has only competed in one Wimbledon competition in 2021 when she reached the last four. She said that sitting at home and missing the atmosphere at SW19 made for a ‘tough time’ last year and has previously sent a hopeful plea to organisers with the hope of playing in this year’s tournament.

“I was super disappointed with their decision,” she said. “I really missed the people because the atmosphere at Wimbledon is super amazing. You can feel these people really love tennis there, and I really miss them.

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“I really hope that I’ll play there [in 2023], just because of the people, to feel this atmosphere. But if they’re going to ban us again… I don’t care about Wimbledon’s decision. The only thing I’ll miss is the people.”

On the court Sabalenka said that she ‘learnt a lot’ last year after overcoming problems with her serve early in the season. The Belarusian finished the season strongly and was a semi-finalist at the US Open.

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