All England Club officials announced on Tuesday that several Russian and Belarusian players have already signed personal statements that will allow them to compete as neutral athletes at Wimbledon in 2023, Reuters reported.

Know:

• This year’s Grand Slam tournament at the All England Club will be held from July 3 to 16.

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Russians and Belarusians signed declarations of neutrality to participate in Wimbledon-2023

Organizers of the Grand Slam in London announced last month that they had lifted a ban that prevented athletes from the two countries from playing last year following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

To compete this year, Russian and Belarusian players must agree to compete as neutral athletes, not make statements in support of the war or the regimes involved, and not receive funding from either national or state-owned enterprises.

“The development of the wording of the statement is obviously based on government guidance, collaboration with the ATP, WTA, ITF and our partners with the LTA.

As soon as we announced it, players were able to sign declarations and can do so until the registration deadline. I won’t share the details with whom, but several players have already signed.

We heard from athletes last year that they wanted to have the option to sign a statement. They perfectly understand what they are doing” – Sally BoltonCEO of the All England Club.

Repression of Russians and Belarusians, the most difficult decision for Wimbledon

Ian Hewitt, chairman of the All England Club, said the decision was the most difficult in his four years in office.

“It was an incredibly difficult decision. I believe that our statement on March 31 set out the position as clearly as possible, namely that a combination of factors and a series of events led to our decision.” – Ian Hewitt.

Wimbledon and other British grass-court tournaments were the only ones that did not feature Russian and Belarusian players last year, such as former world leaders Daniil Medvedev and Victoria Azarenka.

The decision led to the withdrawal of ranking points offered at these events, and the British Tennis Federation received huge fines from the ATP and WTA.

Wimbledon organizers are trying to reconcile everyone

The turn at Wimbledon drew criticism, and Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba called it “immoral.”

Bolton said he spoke personally with the Ukrainian players at the time of the announcement and that most understood the situation and the club’s decision.

Hewitt reiterated that Wimbledon “condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine” and said the tournament would continue to support players and refugees in the country.

Wimbledon will cover all accommodation costs for Ukrainian players during the tournament and all preparatory activities in the British grass season, and one pound will be donated to help Ukrainians for every ticket sold – that’s about £500,000.