The WTA is under pressure to ban Russian and Belarusian tennis players from competing, but the association sticks to its stance that politics and sports should not mix and athletes should not be victims of their government’s decisions.
In order to force Russia to stop its invasion of Ukraine, a lot of countries have imposed sanctions. Some sports such as athletics, badminton, canoeing and rowing have banned individual Russian and Belarusian athletes from taking part in competition. Tennis “feels very very strongly” that Russian and Belarusian players should not be punished for the decisions of their politicians.