Banning Russian players from Wimbledon will backfire

We need to talk about Russophobia. There really is no other word for the swiftness with which Russian sportspeople and artists are being expelled from international competitions and festivals, for no other crime than being born Russian. While all right-thinking people condemn Russia’s brutal, imperialist invasion of Ukraine, the neo-McCarthyism ripping through various western institutions is getting really ugly – and will prove completely counter-productive.

Hot on the heels of Fifa – that most morally unimpeachable of sports bodies – banning Russia from the World Cup, Wimbledon’s organisers are now on the verge of announcing a complete ban of Russian (and Belarusian) tennis players. This will be felt right at the top of the competition, with world number two Daniil Medvedev and former world number one Victoria Azarenka set to be prevented from appearing at the All England Club this summer. Wimbledon would be the first tennis tournament to issue such a sweeping ban.