The All England Club will pay for two rooms for Ukrainian tennis players and their entourages during the grass-court season and donate £1 for every ticket sold at Wimbledon to fund campaigns in support of Ukraine — a move that could reach up to maximum £500,000 ($850,000) — after deciding to admit Russian and Belarusian players into the tournament despite the ongoing war.
Club chairman Ian Hewitt mentioned at the annual spring press conference for the oldest Grand Slam tournament that the decision to allow Russians and Belarusians to compete at Wimbledon — a year after they were expelled for of the invasion of Ukraine which began in February 2022 — was “probably the most difficult decision to make in my time in office”.
Among the players who will be able to tread the English lawn again are the Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka, second racket in the world and champion of the Australian Open in January, and the Russian Daniil Medvedev, ex-no 1 in the world who won the Open of the United States. United in 2021.
Among the other players affected by this announcement are Belarusian Victoria Azarenka, holder of two Grand Slam titles in her career and ex-world No. 1, and Russian Karen Khachanov, who reached the semi-finals of a major tournament in twice in his career and who has already been part of the top 10 in the world.
Additionally, Hewitt and club general manager Sally Bolton indicated that Wimbledon will not be televised in Russia and Belarus, and that their media will not be accredited for the tournament this year. They also added that people who carry flags or display logos in support of the invasion of Ukraine by these two countries will be expelled from the site, and clarified that tournament participants have started signing a declaration which states that They won’t be able to show their support for Russia, Belarus or the invasion of Ukraine during the tournament.
Other issues addressed by Hewitt and Bolton include:
– coaches will be able to give instructions to players on the pitch from the stands for the first time at Wimbledon, as part of a pilot project;
– Roger Federer, who won eight of his 20 career Grand Slam titles at the All England Club and announced his retirement last year, will be the subject of a ceremony in his honor at some point during the tournament ;
– Billie Jean King and other members of the ‘Original 9’ will be honored as part of the 50e anniversary of the founding of the WTA Tour;
– the men’s doubles tournament will move from best-of-five matches to best-of-three matches.
The main draw will get under way at Wimbledon from July 3; the women’s final will take place on July 15, and the men’s on July 16.
