The news of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine rocked the world earlier this year. Tennis also had to pay the price of the war as Russian and Belarusian players were banned from specific tournaments.
ATP has fined the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) £820,000 for banning Russian and Belarusian male players from competing at grass-court events this year. The ban was imposed in reaction to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
ATP has not just imposed the fine but also warned LTA of a membership cancellation if it decides to ban the Russian and Belarusian players next year.
ATP oversees the tennis tournaments excluding Grand Slams and allows Russian and Belarusian players to compete at the Tour-level events but not under their national flags.
“The ATP, in its finding, has shown no recognition of the exceptional circumstances created by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, or the international sporting community and UK Government’s response to that invasion,” the LTA said in a statement.
“The ATP appear to regard this matter as a straightforward breach of their rules – with a surprising lack of empathy shown for the situation in Ukraine, and a clear lack of understanding of the unique circumstances the LTA faced.”
WTA already fined the LTA $750,000 (£615,067) for excluding female Russian and Belarusian players from competing in grass-court events this year.
ATP and WTA also decided to not award ranking points during this year’s Wimbledon after the All England Lawn Tennis Club officials decided not to allow Russian and Belarusian players in the event.
LTA has warned that they will have to cancel a number of ATP Challenger events they had planned for the first quarter of 2023 after being fined by both the ATP and WTA.
“The financial impact of both this fine and the WTA’s fine will have a material impact on the LTA’s ability to develop and host tennis in this country,” it continued.
“For example, we had intended to host a number of ATP Challenger level events to give more opportunities to lower ranked players in the first quarter of 2023 and will now not be able to do this, particularly given the possibility of further fines.”
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