WTA boss Steve Simon believes Russian and Belarusian tennis players should not be banned from playing events because of politics.
Athletes in other sports, such as athletics, have banned individual Russians and Belarusians from appearing in competitions while football’s governing bodies have removed clubs from their competitions. Russian and Belarusian tennis players are not allowed to play under their country’s name or flag and are banned from team competition amid the war.
As well as this, the WTA and ATP tournament in Moscow in October has been suspended while all International Tennis Federation (ITF) events in the countries have been cancelled following the invasion of Ukraine. However, Simon - who became WTA Chief Executive in 2015 - believes players hailing from Russia and Belarus should be allowed to continue to play on tour.
