Last week, Wimbledon lifted the ban it had imposed on Russian and Belarusian players that denied them entry into last year’s competition. Players from the two countries had been banned in light of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Belarus’s support of their efforts. However, they were allowed to compete in other ATP and WTA tournaments under a neutral flag.
However, world No 1 Iga Swiatek believes tennis should have done better from the “beginning” and barred players from these two countries from taking part in any competiton.
“I heard that after World War Two, German players were not allowed as well as Japanese and Italian, and I feel like this kind of thing would show the Russian government that maybe it’s not worth it,” the 21-year-old told the BBC.
“I know it’s a small thing because we are just athletes, a little piece in the world but I feel like sport is pretty important and sport has always been used in propaganda.
“This is something that was considered at the beginning, tennis didn’t really go that way, but now it would be pretty unfair for Russian and Belarusian players to do that because this decision was supposed to be made a year ago.”
Swiatek cited the lack of leadership from the WTA and ATP after the war started and spoke of the chaos that broke out in the tennis world at the time. She said the atmosphere in dressing rooms was “tense” and how she still has players “approaching” her for advice and help on the issue.
Of the Russian and Belarusian players on tour, Swiatek said: “It’s not their fault they have a passport like that but, on the other hand, we all have some kind of impact and I feel like anything that would help stop the Russian aggression, we should go that way in terms of the decisions the federations are making.
“It’s easy to say that but when you’re facing people face to face it’s a little bit different. I did shake hands, for example, with Daria Kasatkina - she openly said that she’s against the war at the beginning and it would be her dream for the war to finish.
“I really respect that because I feel it’s brave for Russian athletes to say that because their situation is pretty complicated and sometimes it’s hard for them to speak out loud about it.”
