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Wimbledon organisers announced extra help to Ukrainian players after reversing a ban on the Russian and Belarusian players at this year’s mega-event. The All-England Club had made an announcement last year that the ban imposed last year won’t be continued as the players were stripped of the rankings and were charged hefty amounts of fine.
The Russian and Belarusian players will be able to enter Wimbledon, which is all set to start from July. However, they will be playing as ‘neutral’ players, which means they would need to comply with some rules, including not expressing support for Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The chairman of the All-England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC) Ian Hewitt confirmed that Wimbledon will make a donation from the ticket sales to the Ukraine relief fund and has invited the Ukraine locals living in London to spend a day at the tournament. The organisers have confirmed that they will donate £1 from every ticket sold, which is expected to be more than £500,000 to the Ukraine funds.
Apart from that, the players have been offered two hotel rooms per Ukrainian player free of charge as well as the training sessions till the time the tournament lasts.
Hewitt said, "It was a difficult and challenging decision, which was made with the full support of our UK government and the international stakeholder bodies in tennis but does not lessen in any way our total condemnation of Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine.”
Meanwhile, the television rights of the tournament have been withheld from the broadcasters in Russia and Belarus. In 2022, Wimbledon had been stripped of ranking points after imposing a ban by the Association of Tennis Professionals and Women’s Tennis Association.
