Tennis has missed a chance to ship a robust message to Moscow by failing to impose a blanket ban on gamers from Russia and its ally Belarus after the invasion of Ukraine, world No.1 Iga Swiatek says.
Wimbledon banned gamers from the 2 nations final 12 months after the February 2022 invasion however stated in March it might now settle for them as impartial athletes.
The 2022 event was the primary time gamers have been excluded on grounds of nationality because the instant post-World War II period, when German and Japanese gamers have been banned from the championships.
“After World War II, German players were not allowed as well as Japanese and Italian (players), and I feel like this kind of thing would show the Russian government that maybe it’s not worth it,” Poland’s Swiatek informed the BBC on Wednesday.
“We are just athletes, a little piece in the world, but sport is pretty important and sport has always been used for propaganda.
“Tennis, from the start, might do a bit higher in exhibiting all people that tennis gamers are towards the warfare.
“Tennis didn’t really go that way, but now it would be pretty unfair for Russian and Belarusian players to do that because this decision was supposed to be made a year ago.”
Russian and Belarusian gamers have been competing on the WTA and PGA excursions, and on the different grand slams as impartial athletes.
Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka, who received this 12 months’s Australian Open, has stated she struggled to grasp the “hate” within the locker room.
Swiatek described the locker room environment as “pretty tense”.
“It’s not their fault they have a passport like that … their situation is pretty complicated and it’s hard for them to speak out loud about it,” the 21-year-old stated.
“On the other hand, we all have some kind of impact and anything that would help stop the Russian aggression, we should go that way.”
Source: www.perthnow.com.au
