Aryna Sabalenka has hit out at Wimbledon's decision to ban Russian and Belarusian players and would prefer politics to stay out of sport.
It has been close to a year since Russia launched its illegal invasion of Ukraine. There are no signs of the war stopping anytime soon, with Ukraine fighting bravely and admirably against the invasion of its territory.
Ukrainian players have been severely impacted by the war in their homeland. Elina Svitolina recently expressed concern that the public is no longer interested in a nearly one-year-old story, meaning the reality of the situation is not understood.
The Ukraine war has also impacted Russian and Belarusian players. Belarus' government is a vocal supporter of Russia's activities in Ukraine, meaning its tennis players have to play under a neutral banner, like Russia's.
While the neutral banner for Russian and Belarusian players did not receive much backlash, Wimbledon's decision to ban players from those two countries was one of the most controversial moves in tennis history.
The ATP and WTA responded by announcing that no ranking points would be awarded at Wimbledon. Some top players being banned and no ranking points awarded meant the tournament felt devalued.
Sabalenka, who could not play at this year's Wimbledon because she is Belarusian, said in an interview with The Age that she opposes the war in Ukraine and the politicization of sport. She argued that Wimbledon's ban had no impact.
"This is really terrible because no one supports war – no one. The problem is that we have to speak loud about that ... but why should we scream about that in every corner? It’s not going to help at all. We have zero control under this situation."
“I’m just really disappointed sport is somehow in politics. We’re just athletes playing their sport. That’s it. We’re not about politics. If all of us could do something, we would do it, but we have zero control.They banned us from Wimbledon, and what did it change? Nothing – they’re still doing this, and this is the sad [part] of this situation.”
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