Why Wimbledon's Russian Player Ban is the Wrong Move
Banning all Russian and Belarusian players is a moral wrong and sets a dangerous precedent about political behavior going forward.
It’s not too often that my personal interests directly intersect with the current political moment. But that’s exactly what is happening right now with the All England Club, host of the Wimbledon Tennis Championships coming up in just under 2 months, choosing to unilaterally ban all Russian and Belarusian players from competition. The ban which the All England Club has moved forward with in the name of supporting Ukraine would bar the world #2 and #8 tennis players, Daniil Medvedev and Andrey Rublev from the competition along with Aryna Sabalenka, a Belarusian who is currently the #4 woman’s player in the world. Of course the All England Club is a private organization and can do what they please, but this move to ban private individuals for actions of their country which they have no role in is not only morally wrong but sets a dangerous precedent for more bans in the future.
Why did the All England Club ban Russian players?
Almost two weeks ago on April 20th, the All England Club made the decision to ban all Russian and Belarusian players from the Wimbledon tournament. The club made the decision in order to play their part in standing against the Russian invasion of Ukraine. They said:
In the circumstances of such unjustified and unprecedented military aggression, it would be unacceptable for the Russian regime to derive any benefits from the involvement of Russian or Belarusian players with The Championships.
Overall the argument posits that giving Russia even the smallest level of victory by allowing athletes who compete as individuals to participate would support the Russian war machine. This is a decision that has been supported by many supporters of Ukraine including Ukrainian tennis player Elina Svitolina who has said, “There is a time when silence becomes betrayal” and demanded that Russian players must denounce Putin and the war in order to be allowed to compete.
Supporters of the ban have argued that the ban is in line with other sanctions being levied against Russia and falls in line with actions taken by other organizations. Many sports, most notably the World Cup has banned Russian teams from competition indefinitely due to the war in Ukraine. Of course Russia has not competed officially in several recent Olympics due to doping scandals with athletes instead competing under the Russian Olympic Committee, a loophole that is not being granted in this case.
Russian Ban Response
While the decision for Wimbledon to ban Russian players has received much support from Ukrainians and many others in British government, several prominent tennis players have no responded calling out the ban for its discrimination. Russian Andrey Rublev, who earned some notoriety for writing “No War” on a camera during a tournament in the early days of the war, responded to the ban calling the decision discriminatory, promising his prize money to Ukrainian aid, and affirming his apolitical status seeing himself only as a competitor.
And if there is a statement that we need to sign and on top of that to give all the prize money to humanitarian help, to the families who are suffering, to the kids who suffer," he said, "I think that move at least will do something, at least a bit. And it will show that the England government is standing for the peace and they really want to help…At the end of the day we are here to compete, we are not here to talk about politics”
While Rublev’s comments were criticized by former Ukrainian tennis player Alexandr Dolgopolov, who called Rublev a “liar” and “hypocrite”, him an other Russians have received support from prominent figures in tennis. Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray, who have won a combined 10 Wimbledon titles between them, have each come out against the ban. Each of them cited the ban as being unfair to the Russian players who have nothing to do with the war in their home countries and should be allowed to compete. The French Open, which is set to begin on May 22nd, has committed to allowing Russian and Belarusian player’s to compete, and while receiving backlash for the decision seems likely not to change.
Why the Ban is Wrong
The All England Club choosing to ban Russian and Belarusian athletes from competition at one of the largest tournaments of the year is not only a moral wrong, but also sets a terrible presence for tennis and other sports going forward. While the Club along with supporters of the ban have cited other sports such as the Rugby and the World Cup who have banned Russian teams as a result of the war as part justification for their decision, there is a significant difference between players competing directly under the Russian flag, as a Russian team, and tennis players who compete as private individuals. These are not athletes who compete under the Russian flag or with support from the Russian government and while being Russian citizens most do not even spend the majority of their time living within Russia. While each of these athletes along with any Russian citizens must tread carefully in their anti-Russian rhetoric to avoid any action taken against them or their families, the players especially Rublev have certainly taken steps to assert their anti-war stance.
As for the primary concern stated by the All England Club that “it would be unacceptable for the Russian regime to derive any benefits from the involvement of Russian or Belarusian players” we must take a more nuanced view than simply assuming banning players is the best choice to achieve this goal. The assumption by the Club is that if allowed to compete, if a Russia athlete were to perform well at the tournament (a very possible outcome especially with Medvedev) then their victory could be used to bolster Russian propaganda. While this could very well be true in whatever small amount a tennis player winning a tournament thousands a miles away could inspire Russian forces, the action of banning these athletes would be a much larger propaganda win for Russia. Choosing to allow Russian athletes to compete is a non-action, simply allowing the status quo to continue as is. But choosing to ban players is a direct action against Russians and would tell the Russian people that regardless of your opinion or support of the war, you are not allowed to participate in the outside world. Individual Russian citizens being banned from taking part in international events irrelevant to the war would give a large propaganda win for the Putin regime under the guise of supporting Ukraine.
While banning Russian players for the sole reason of the country in which they hold citizenship is already discriminatory at face value, this action also ignores many other countries around the world committing atrocities who do not see their players being banned and inactions by governments on a scale significantly larger than a few tennis players. For one, there has been no retaliation against Chinese players for the actions of the CCP who have committed atrocities on Uighur Muslims, effectively taken over the intendent state of Hong Kong, and imposed severe Covid-19 restrictions on citizens bordering human rights abuses. In fact the WTA only took the action of banning tournaments in China after the disappearance of Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai late last year.
There is also of course no precedence for banning players over the United States invasion of Iraq and other middle eastern countries (supported by other nations including the U.K.) in which the war directly led to tens of thousands of civilian deaths. The United States is also complicit in supporting the current humanitarian crisis in Yemen which has consistently been ranked the top humanitarian crisis in the world. Now, none of this is to say that the actions of the United States and other countries are morally equal to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, although you can certainly make those arguments, but if Russian athletes must be banned for the actions taken by their government in this case there is no justification for why US athletes shouldn’t be held responsible for the actions of our government either.
There is also the issue of how countries like the U.K. are continuing to support the Russian war machine in ways that dwarf any impact tennis players could have. Possibly the most impactful way a country could help Russia fight their war in Ukraine is by continuing to buy Russian oil and natural gas which makes up roughly half of all Russian exports. The U.K. continues to receive 4-8% of the country’s total oil and gas from Russia, giving country tens of billions of dollars. The E.U. also obtains a large amount of their energy supply from Russia and while both the E.U. and U.K. have implemented a phasing out of Russian energy by the end of the year, their inability to outright ban Russian energy provides an enormous monetary and geopolitical boost for Russia.
Perhaps the biggest issue with this ban has nothing to do with tennis players and nothing to do with this war. Banning independent individuals from participating in anything, for the sole reason as to the actions of their country sets a dangerous precedent for future bans for less legitimate reasons, and this is certainly not an issue relegated to the world of tennis. FIDE, the international chess federation decided to ban Russian player Sergey Karjakin from the candidates tournament which decides who will play to become the next world chess champion. While Karjakin’ s ban is much more legitimate than the Wimbledon bans, Karjakin has openly supported the Russian invasion of Ukraine, it still received backlash among prominent Chess players who insist that politics stay out of Chess. In the cases of both these bans, there is a danger that being banned now, in justification of a unilaterally agreed upon good cause, could provide justification for banning players in the future for less agreed upon reasons. This is especially dangerous as a wave of populism has been spreading around the globe resulting in several controversial laws popping up over the globe. I do not think it would be outlandish to see bans of players from countries for actions taken domestically such as discriminatory legislation or the election of controversial leaders such as Marine Le Pen in France.
While this all might seem unimportant in the context of a serious war in Ukraine, international relations in many cases are hanging by a thread. The election of Donald Trump in the United States, the passing of Brexit in the U.K. and several similar events throughout Europe and the rest of the world have started ripping away some of our international fabric. The allowing of athletes, artists, and entertainers of all kind to compete and perform throughout the world is one of the easiest ways we can see the spreading of culture throughout the world in a positive way and represents part of the backbone of friendly international relations. Choosing to ban Russian players only for the virtue of their country of citizenship is a kneejerk reaction intended only to show support even if doing so might actually provide a larger propaganda win for Putin than a Medvedev Wimbledon title ever could.
private tyranny on display
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