What Another Challenge: Iga Świątek says tennis missed opportunity in not banning “pretty tense.”……Fans In Awe

Tennis missed an opportunity to send a strong message to Moscow by failing to impose a blanket ban on players from Russia and its ally Belarus after the invasion of Ukraine, world number one Iga Świątek said.

Wimbledon banned players from the two countries last year after the invasion, which Moscow calls a “special military operation,” but said in March that it would now accept them as neutral athletes.

The 2022 tournament was the first time players were excluded on grounds of nationality since the immediate post-World War Two era, when German and Japanese players were banned from the championships.