Barring a few tennis players from the elegant grass courts of England won’t change anything. Even extreme economic sanctions already in place seem not to have dissuaded him from his ruthless attacks on Ukrainian cities and their inhabitants.
It’s been hailed as the correct decision by those who believe this action will in some way hurt Russian president, Vladimir Putin.
It’s discriminating against individuals for crimes committed by an autocratic leader who jails those who speak out against him. They would do well to heed their lately fading superstar, British racer Lewis Hamilton, and cross Saudi Arabia off their calendar as well.īut Wimbledon’s decision to ban individual Russian and Belarusian tennis players from their lofty Championships this summer is not mixing politics and sport. In fact, they just automatically do, whether we like not or not.įormula 1 was right to pull their Grand Prix out of Sochi, Russia, in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
POLITICS and sport absolutely should mix.