Rome Masters to follow Wimbledon’s path in banning Russian and Belarusian players: Reports
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Following Wimbledon‘s ban on Russian and Belarusian players in the advent of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, reports emerge that the Rome Masters (Italian Open) may also follow the same route. Although there are no confirmations about this but Italian outlet Corriere della Sera has reported that the Italian government is pressurizing the Rome Masters organisers to ban Russian and Belarusian players from the event. The Italian Open starts in less than two weeks and a piece of news like this will be a major blow for the Russian and Belarusian players who already have their schedules set.
On Thursday there were strong rumours regarding the ban on Russian players from the Wimbledon and other events in the United Kingdom but a little later official confirmation also came. The Wimbledon authorities feel that by doing this they are showing support to Ukraine, who is their ally. Apparently, they also feel that the people of Britain also feel the same emotion but that is totally not true as people are divided with their opinions.
ATP and WTA have already condemned the move made by Wimbledon and the All England Club, but now if other events also take inspiration from Wimbledon authorities then it will be a major issue for the players and also for the governing body. After Wimbledon’s decision, the Belarusian Tennis Federation (BTF) also felt that such actions could incite hate and intolerance on ethnic grounds.
Last year’s Rome Masters quarterfinalist Andrey Rublev tried his best to settle terms with Wimbledon
World No. 8 Andrey Rublev who reached the quarterfinals at the Rome Masters last year had a talk with the Wimbledon authorities. There he thought he could strike a fair bargain of donating his entire prize pool to the Ukrainian families who have suffered the most from this war in order to uplift the ban on them. But unfortunately, the Wimbledon authorities remained rigid in their stance.
“Banning Russian or Belarusian players… will not change anything,” Rublev said. “To give all the prize money would have a more positive effect to humanitarian help, to the families who are suffering, to the kids who are suffering. I think that would do something. Tennis will, in that case, be the first and only sport who donates that amount of money and it will be Wimbledon so they will take all the glory.”
But nothing changed as such, the bans are still upheld by the Wimbledon authorities. The only stance that has gotten softer is that they may reconsider this decision later if things get better between Russia and Ukraine. He then claimed their actions to be illogical and discriminatory.
“I had a call with Wimbledon yesterday, just to talk about the situation and try to find a solution. To be honest, the reasons they have given for the exclusion make no sense and there is no logic in what they have proposed. I could have figured out if excluding Russian and Belarusian players had any impact, but it won’t do any good and it won’t change anything. What they are doing is discrimination against us.”
But now things getting bad to worse for the Russian and Belarusian players. If Rome Masters also decide to walk the same route as the Wimbledon then ATP and the players should be mentally prepared that there can be many such organisers who will impose this ban on them until the situation gets normalised back in Ukraine.
The Rome Masters will begin on 2nd May and will run through till the 15th of May.
Also Read: It’s discrimination against us: Andrey Rublev labels Wimbledon ban as ‘injustice’
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Atrayo Bhattacharya
(193 Articles Published)