ATP: Ban for Russian teams, not for athletes

The tennis family as a whole imposed severe sanctions on Russia over the Russian Federation’s invasion of Ukraine.

The institutions representing World Tennis, ITF, Tennis Europe, ATP, WTA and the administrations of the four Grand Slams (Grand Slams Board), have decided to exclude Russian national teams in all competitions and age groups to the last.

The same applies to Belarus, which played a supporting role in Russia’s war against Ukraine.

Following this decision, Russia will not be able to defend its Davis Cup and Billie Jean King Cup (formerly Fed Cup) titles, while Russian and Belarusian athletes will be allowed to compete in professional tournaments without having the Russian flag appear next to their names.

“The international tennis authorities are unanimous in their condemnation of Russia’s actions,” said the two professional tours and the four Grand Slams under the umbrella of the International Tennis Federation (ITF) in a joint statement.

Tennis Europe followed, which excluded the federations of Russia and Belarus from the team championships it organized (Winter and Summer Cups, European Beach Tennis, Senior Club Championships), as well as the representation of the two countries at the U16 European Championships to be held in Moscow. A new headquarters is announced. At the same time, the two federations have been banned from the annual Tennis Europe conference, due to be held in Portugal in 2022.

The decision of the international bodies came shortly after the announcement of the cancellation of all tennis events that were to take place in Russia.

The three measures of the associations:

• ATP and WTA have decided to postpone the Moscow combined tournament, which is scheduled for October.
• The ITF has decided to suspend its membership of the Russian Tennis Federation and the Belarusian Tennis Federation and to withdraw from national competitions. Of course, all planned ITF tournaments in Russia and Belarus have also been cancelled.
• From now on, athletes from Russia and Belarus will be allowed to participate in tennis events, but they will not compete under the flag and name of their countries.

source: tennis24