“Private Clubs have the freedom to ban players” All-England Club ready to ban Daniil Medvedev and Co. from the 2022 Wimbledon Championships
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Daniil Medvedev, Andrey Rublev, Karen Khachanov
World No. 2 Daniil Medvedev and his Russian compatriots continue to receive flak for the Russian attempt to invade Ukraine that began on 24th February 2022. With more than 1.5 months since the war began, life has been difficult for the Russian athletes professionally as they are facing possible bans and have already had their flags stripped from them.
With the United Kingdom being one of the strongest opposers of the Russian aggression having sent weapons to Ukraine in their struggle to remain independent, the government has also asked the All-England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC), the organisers of the Wimbledon Championships to ban all the Russian and Belarusian players from participating in the upcoming 2022 Wimbledon Championships.
While the ATP and WTA have not banned the players but have removed their national flags and instead suspended their national federations, the AELTC are an independent body and as per the recent reports of The Telegraph, the Club is not bonded legally to submit proof on what grounds have they banned a particular player and this autonomy allows them to ban all the Russian and Belarusian players.
“Private member clubs have more freedom as to who to allow in or not, so they wouldn’t be subject to the same discrimination laws as the tours. If you are running the main tennis tour, you have the freedom to ban players – if they have been found guilty of match-fixing or doping, for instance – but you have to be able to show that this course of action is reasonable
“In this instance, if the tours took strong action, Russian players could argue that they are being prevented from making a living through no fault of their own. That is not so much of an issue for Wimbledon, however,” quoted the Telegraph from a source close to the AELTC.
The decision on Daniil Medvedev and other players to come soon
With the deadline for the Wimbledon 2022 being in Mid-May, a decision can be expected soon from the Club over the fate of the Russian and Belarusian players. This would mean that players like Daniil Medvedev, Andrey Rublev, Karen Khachanov, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Victoria Azarenka and Aryna Sabalenka will be a few of the top players absent from the Championships this year.
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Sarthak Shitole
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