Tennis News: The ATP penalised the Lawn Tennis Association £820,000 for excluding Russian and Belarusian players from grass-court competitions this summer before Wimbledon.
It is also believed that the LTA has been warned it would be kicked off the Tour if it continues the earlier this year-imposed restriction because of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
At the five ATP tournaments hosted by the LTA—Club, Queen’s Eastbourne, Surbiton, Nottingham, and Ilkley—Russians and Belarusians were controversially barred from competing.
They were prohibited from competing in Wimbledon by the All England Club as well, and the ATP and WTA later deducted Wimbledon of its ranking points as a result.
The WTA had punished the LTA the same sum, and the LTA had filed an appeal against the WTA’s decision.
The LTA claimed that it is debating how to react to the most recent suspension and charged that the ATP had shown “a lack of empathy” for the situation in Ukraine.
A sentence said: “With this result, the LTA is profoundly upset. In its conclusion, the ATP failed to acknowledge the exceptional circumstances brought about by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, as well as the response of the international sporting community and UK government to that invasion.
“The ATP seems to view this situation as a simple violation of their rules, demonstrating an unexpected lack of sympathy for the situation in Ukraine and a glaring ignorance of the special challenges the LTA faced.
“For instance, we had planned to hold a number of ATP Challenger level events in the first quarter of 2023 to provide more opportunities for lower ranked players, but we will no longer be able to do this, especially given the prospect of additional fines.
We will give our response significant thought while we await the outcome of our appeal against the WTA’s ruling and punishment.
The culture secretary asks ATP and WTA to think again
Michelle Donelan, the culture secretary, entered the argument and urged the ATP and WTA to change their minds.
The vast majority of the world’s athletes have united in their condemnation of Vladimir Putin’s unjustified and brutal actions in Ukraine during the past year, according to Donelan.
“In order to develop this global response, the UK has assumed a global leadership position. We are adamant that athletes from Russia or Belarus should not be permitted to compete abroad because sport cannot be used to justify this terrible invasion.
“The ATP and WTA made a mistake by doing this. I implore them to carefully consider the message this conveys and to change their minds.”
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