Italian government mulls Wimbledon-like ban on Russian and Belarusian players for Italian Open: Report

The All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC) recently announced its decision to ban Russian and Belarusian players from competing at Wimbledon against the backdrop of the war in Ukraine, and organizers of the Italian Open are planning to follow suit.

Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi has sought to impose a Wimbledon-like ban on Russian and Belarusian players at the Italian Open, which begins in May.

The men's event in Rome is part of the ATP Tour Masters 1000 series, while the women's tourmanent is a WTA 1000 event.

According to Corriere della Sera, the move to ban the players has been backed by the president of the nation's Olympic Committee, Giovanni Malagò.

"The Masters tournament in Rome should also take place without Russian and Belarusian tennis professionals - like in Wimbledon. The Italian government is putting pressure on the organizers, the report stated. The President of the Olympic Committee, Malago, also supports this."

The Italian Open is managed by the ATP and WTA through a contractual commitment with the Italian Tennis Federation. Considering the fact that the ATP and the WTA do not support the ban, it will be interesting to see if the Italian government can convince the country's tennis federation to impose the ban.

ATP, WTA condemn Wimbledon's ban on Russian, Belarusian players

The controversial move from Wimbledon, which will affect top players like Daniil Medvedev of Russia and Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus, has not found support from either the ATP or the WTA.

The ATP released a statement stressing that the unilateral decision of the Wimbledon organizers could set a dangerous precedent for tennis in the future.

"We believe that today's unilateral decision by Wimbledon and the LTA to exclude players from Russia and Belarus from this year's British grass-court swing is unfair and has the potential to set a damaging precedent for the game."

"Discrimination based on nationality also constitutes a violation of our agreement with Wimbledon that states that player entry is based solely on ATP Rankings."

Meanwhile, the WTA called the move to ban Russian and Belarusian players discriminatory.

"A fundamental principal of the WTA is that individual athletes may participate in professional tennis events based on merit and without any form of discrimination."

ATP World No. 1 Novak Djokovic said mixing sports with politics would not yield good results as players and athletes had nothing to do with the war.

"The players, the tennis players, the athletes have nothing to do with war. When politics interferes with sport, the result is not good."