All England Club and Lawn Tennis Association furious after receiving fines, report says
The Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) has imposed fines totaling $1 million on Wimbledon organisers, the All England Club and the UK’s Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) after they banned Russian and Belarusian players. participate in the tournaments this summer, according to The Daily Mail. The newspaper says that the LTA has “secretly” he was fined £620,000 ($750,000) and the All England Club fined £207,000 ($250,000) for his stance in excluding Russians and Belarusians from all British events.
The WTA had already sanctioned Wimbledon by stripping this year’s tournament of ranking points, a move that mirrored that of the men’s ATP tour.
According to the Mail, UK tennis chiefs and the British government have been angered by the financial punishments and will seek to appeal them, although that can only be done once the fines have been paid in full. UK tennis became a tennis outlier when it announced in April that Russian and Belarusian stars would not participate in tournaments due to the conflict in Ukraine.
That stance, which Wimbledon bosses defended as being in line with UK government guidance, was in direct contrast to the WTA and ATP. Both tours have allowed players from the two countries to compete as neutrals. The French Open allowed Russia and Belarus to appear under neutral status earlier this year, a decision that will be followed by the US Open, which begins in August.
The Wimbledon ban meant the likes of Russian men’s world number one Daniil Medvedev were unable to play at SW19, while a host of other stars missed out, such as top 10 Belarusian star Aryna Sabalenka. Before Wimbledon, Russian and Belarusian players were not allowed to participate in warm-up events in Eastbourne, Nottingham and Birmingham. The LTA organizes the first two events, while the All England Club holds the license for the Birmingham tournament. Commenting to the Mail on the fines imposed by the WTA, UK Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries said: “The LTA and Wimbledon are to be commended for their decision to make Russia an international sporting pariah and for doing the right thing in the current circumstances.”