An ATP Challenger 100 tournament in Grodzisk Mazowiecki, Poland, called the 2023 Lotto Kozerki Open, recently surprised with their statement.
Last year, Wimbledon organizers banned Russian and Belarusian players from competing at the third Grand Slam of the season. However, they changed their decision in 2023, and players from all countries were allowed to compete in all events this season.
But that may change at the 2023 Lotto Kozerki Open, which is an ATP Challenger 100 tournament held in Grodzisk Mazowiecki, Poland. The tournament will be played from August 14th to 19th, and last year, it was won by Tomas Machac from the Czech Republic.
However, the tournament drew a lot of interest because of unusual reasons. The tournament organizers have recently issued a statement available to all visitors to their official website.
The tournament organizers stated that because of the ongoing War in Ukraine, players representing Russia and Belarus would not be welcome at the tournament.
"Considering the situation in Ukraine and the armed aggression of Russia in these lands, please do not apply to the LOTTO KOZERKI OPEN ATP Challenger 100 tournament, players representing countries such as Russia and Belarus."
"Players representing Russia and Belarus will not be welcome at the tournament and in the Kozerki complex. We do not guarantee places at the Academy for these people."
It will be interesting to follow how the situation unfolds and whether the ATP will interfere, as the move could potentially breach the rules set out by the ATP. Interestingly, last year, only two players from these two countries competed at the tournament.
Alexey Vatutin and Bogdan Bobrov signed up to play in the qualifying, with Vatutin making it all the way to the main draw.
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