The All England Tennis Club, reportedly under pressure from the British government, has decided with “deep regret” to ban all Russian and Belarusian players from this year’s Wimbledon tennis tournament. A number of sporting events, including tennis, have banned Russian teams while allowing individual players to compete with no official acknowledgment of their country affiliation. But Wimbledon’s decision is highly unusual – the oldest of the Grand Slam tennis tournaments hasn’t banned individual players from competition since just after World War II. We have questions, and we’d be interested to read your answers via email. Is this a welcome public refusal to continue life as normal following an invasion condemned by the governments of 141 countries? Should sports and politics be kept separate? Is it fair to blame tennis players for the actions of their governments? Should the players’ expressed opinions on the invasion matter? What do you think? Write to us here.
News
Wimbledon to ban Russians & Belarusians
All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club, Wimbledon, England.
REUTERS/Toby Melville
By Willis SparksApril 20, 2022
Willis Sparks
Willis Sparks is a senior editor for GZERO Daily. He is also a Director in the Global Macro practice at Eurasia Group, where he has worked since 2005. He has made speeches on international politics on every continent except Antarctica. Willis holds degrees from Brown University, the Juilliard School, Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs, and the Institut d'Etudes Politiques in Paris. He also holds an honorary degree from the Moscow Art Theatre School. A native of Macon, Georgia, Willis has worked as a stuntman at New York's Metropolitan Opera. As a child, he declined an opportunity to spend an afternoon riding the Great American Scream Machine, a rollercoaster, with Ronald McDonald, for money. He has never regretted that decision.
