Under the guise of words

When politics interferes with sport, the result is not good

 The UK Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) and the All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC) have issued an official united statement, according to which Russian and Belarusian tennis players will not be able to take part in tournaments under their auspices in 2022, including the Grand Slam tournament on the grass — Wimbledon. The decision applies to both senior and junior competitions. “If circumstances change significantly between now and June, we will review the applications of Russian and Belarusian tennis players and respond accordingly,” the press release says. It should be noted that several other major tournaments will be held in addition to Wimbledon in the UK in June: ATP Tour 500 in London, WTA 250 tournaments in Birmingham and WTA 500 tournaments in Eastbourne. Russian and Belarusian tennis players will also not be able to take part in them.
All this is deliberately done and announced in extremely rude manner — without taking into account the opinions of the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), Women’s Tennis Association (WTA), International Tennis Federation (ITF), who have already made harsh statements before. No one has taken care of the sports component, or even of the income, which is likely to miss out on millions of pounds due to the decline in the level of tournaments. But who cares when big politics breaks into sports?!

The loss of ranking points, which affect the struggle for getting into the final tournament, as well as the deprivation of money and huge bonuses, both from advertising and from the tournament organisers are only some of the consequences of this decision for tennis players. Isn’t that a significant reason to appeal to court?

OPINIONS
From the statement of the Belarusian Tennis Federation:
“Such destructive actions in no way contribute to the resolution of conflicts but only incite hatred and intolerance on a national basis. Absolutely politicised decisions lead our entire sport to global destabilisation — ATP and WTA have already sharply criticised the decision to remove athletes from the tournament. Prominent athletes such as Novak Djokovic and Martina Navratilova also denounced the decision. Throughout the history of tennis, armed conflicts have taken place in the world — in Iran, Afghanistan, Syria, Yugoslavia and other countries, but never until now have tournament organisers suspended athletes from the United States, Great Britain and other countries from participating, and other athletes have not pushed the public to division of tennis players on a national basis. We once again state the policy of double standards applied to the current situation. All this only confirms our confidence that world sport and international sports organisations have now been turned into an instrument of political pressure and manipulation and, unfortunately, they no longer have anything to do with the development of sports and its popularisation.”


Novak Djokovic, 20-time Grand Slam champion, world No. 1 in tennis:
“I will always condemn war, I will never support war being myself a child of war. I know how much emotional trauma it leaves. In Serbia we all know what happened in 1999. In the Balkans we have had many wars in recent history. However, I cannot support the decision of Wimbledon, I think it is crazy. When politics interferes with sport, the result is not good.”



Martina Navratilova, 18-time Grand Slam champion, former world No. 1 in tennis:
“Exclusion like this… is not the way to go… Truth is, I think AELTC has gone further than it should have. I think it’s the wrong decision. This is unfair to the whole world. There are so many bad things going on right now. I think this is a useless decision... Would I like Wimbledon to change their mind? I would like to. But I think it’s too late. It will be difficult to turn back time.”

The very last ace

The tennis world is in anxiety. The game of aristocrats and millionaires, which always existed by its own strict rules, had a very strict code and shunned the rest of world sports, distantly looking down on it, like a prince of noble birth behave with the mob and common people, appeared at the centre of a disgusting controversy. It suddenly became clear that neither titled nobility, nor noble ranks by no means exclude the lackey essence of character — dishonour, baseness and petty meanness. The All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC) confirmed the day before that the famous Wimbledon — perhaps the most vivid Grand Slam tournament — will be the first individual tennis tournament where players from Russia and Belarus will not be able to play. They were ruled out on a national basis.

Great Britain screwed up again, it brought it on itself, soiled itself. The great Charles Dickens once said, “I do not know the American gentleman, God forgive me for putting two such words together.” But now the famous classic is surely banging on his coffin, for that’s hard to find gentlemen in Britain these days. No, indeed. Boris Johnson clearly isn’t one of them. 

But there is a task, and it must be completed — brushing aside all sorts of norms, shame and common sense, to crush Belarus and Russia under the wheels of their hatred. Wimbledon in this sense should act as a leader, and its example — as a guide for action for others. Yes, but the provocation was not very successful: the tennis establishment did not want to be a dumb creature and, follow the Anglo-Saxon propaganda like an unreasonable beast. Tennis stars who are bolder than others and not afraid to speak up just murmured. 

Officials did not keep their mouths shut either: both the Women’s Tennis Association and the Association of Tennis Professionals — organisations that generate the entire life of the tennis universe — did not support the inflammatory and violating all the fundamental principles of the existence of the ball and racket in the world. Moreover, they were strongly opposed. And this is an encouraging sign: it means that the planet has not completely gone crazy yet, and common sense is timidly making its way to the sun. 
The aforementioned Dickens wrote, “But the absence of the soul is far more terrible in a living man than in a dead one.” The All England Lawn Tennis Club has always been proud of its prim and strict rules at Wimbledon for many years, calling them traditions that have accumulated over more than a century of existence. Grass courts, royal patronage and attention, exclusively male judges in the competition of the stronger sex, it is allowed to perform only in white (including underwear, laces and sneaker soles), everyone eats strawberries with cream, drinks a bell, but it is not allowed to visit the temple of tennis with dogs. Now the entry to Wimbledon has been banned for Belarusians and Russians. 
What can we say?

Each person chooses for himself what is dear and valuable to him or her, and according to what principles to live. Time only gives clues and pushes for decisiveness in the manifestation of certain life attitudes. The masks have been torn off, and now no one pretends that we should keep politics out of sports.

By Vladimir Dmitriev, Sergei Kanashits