The British Tennis Federation has been fined £820,000 by the ATP for barring players from Russia and Belarus from tournaments this summer. The ban was a response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Wimbledon 2022Photo: AELTC/Jed Leicester / PA Images / Profimedia

The federation (LTA) could also lose its ATP membership if it does the same next year.

The British expressed deep disappointment with this decision, blaming “a strange lack of empathy for the situation in Ukraine,” the BBC reports.

The LTA was fined $200,000 for each of the five ATP events it hosted this year.

In addition, the LTA and the All England Club decided to ban Russian and Belarusian athletes from Wimbledon under pressure from the government.