Doyel: Wimbledon’s ban of Russian players is a profile in callousness, not courage
Andrey Rublev is walking toward the television camera with a blue marker in his hand and peace in his heart.
You might not know the name – Andrey Rublev? – but you know what has happened hours earlier. This is Feb. 24 and Russia has just invaded Ukraine, starting a war that over the next eight weeks will claim more than 2,000 civilians among its 10,000 casualties. A nice word, casualty.
It means: They’re dead.
All you need to know about Rublev, beyond his No. 8 world ranking in men’s tennis, is that he was born Moscow. His parents still live there, his father a restaurant manager, his mother a coach at Spartak Tennis Club. Her name is Marina Marenko, and as the coach to Russian stars such as Anna Kournikova, Marenko has received one of the highest honors a Russian civilian can earn. It’s called the Medal of the Order “For Merit to Fatherland.”
This is a well-known Moscow family in the middle of a war waged by the homicidal maniac ruling Russia, Vladimir Putin.
And this is what Andrey Rublev is doing, minutes after winning his semifinal at the Dubai Tennis Championships, hours after Russia – the Fatherland – has invaded Ukraine. He’s walking toward a TV camera with a blue marker and writing the following on the lens:
No War Please.
It is an act of bravery that rises beyond political statement, and approaches heroism.
That was Feb. 24.
Eight weeks later, with Rublev and other top players gearing up for Wimbledon in June, the All-England Club announced Wednesday that players from Russia and Belarus, players like Andrey Rublev, cannot compete. There are four Russian or Belarusian men ranked in the world top 35, and five such women. They are being punished for the sins of the Fatherland.
It is an act of vanity that sinks beneath political statement, and approaches cruelty.
Wimbledon can stop mean Mr. Putin
The lords of Wimbledon think they can make a difference. They are an elite bunch, enforcing an all-white dress code because they have a greater sense of arrogance than irony, and now they are clearing their throat to make an Important Announcement.
“Given the profile of The Championships in the United Kingdom and around the world, it is our responsibility to play our part in the widespread efforts of Government, industry, sporting and creative institutions to limit Russia’s global influence through the strongest means possible,” the statement reads. “In the circumstances of such unjustified and unprecedented military aggression, it would be unacceptable for the Russian regime to derive any benefits from the involvement of Russian or Belarusian players with The Championships
“It is therefore our intention, with deep regret, to decline entries from Russian and Belarusian players to The Championships 2022.”
Countries around the world are enforcing unprecedented financial sanctions on Russia, costing Putin and his oligarch buddies hundreds of billions of dollars. Most of the planet is united in horror over the attacks on Ukraine that have conjured words like “war crimes” and “genocide.”
None of that has affected Putin.
Just wait, though, until Wimbledon gets involved.
Profiles in courage, and callousness
You don’t push away the children of an abusive father. You pull them closer, holding them, assuring them: His sin is not yours.
Daniil Medvedev, the world’s No. 2-ranked men’s player and a Russian, played last month in Indian Wells, Calif. A reporter put him on the spot, asking him his thoughts on his Fatherland’s war. Without saying his name, Medvedev jabbed a verbal finger in Putin’s face.
“I want peace in all the countries,” he said in English. “Every country.”
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, the world’s No. 15-ranked women’s player and a Russian, took to social media Feb. 28, four days after Russian invaded Ukraine, to type a tweet in Putin’s face:
“I have represented Russia all my life. This is my home and my country. But now I am in complete fear, as are my friends and family,” she wrote. “Personal ambitions or political motives cannot justify violence. This takes away from the future not only from us, but also from our children. I am confused and do not know how to help in this situation. I’m just an athlete who plays tennis. I am not a politician, not a public figure, I have no experience in this. I can only publicly disagree with these decisions taken and openly talk about it. Stop the violence, stop the war.”
Victoria Azarenka, the world’s No. 18-ranked women’s player and a Belarusian, also used Twitter to oppose Putin.
“I am devastated by the actions that have taken place over the last several days, against and in Ukraine,” Azarenka tweeted on March 2 to her 1.2 million followers. “It’s heartbreaking to see how many innocent people have been affected and continue to be affected by such violence. … I hope and wish for peace and an end to this war.”
Russia detains protesters, imprisons dissidents and in March passed a law that says its citizens can be jailed 15 years for calling the war in Ukraine a “war.” These statements by Medvedev and Pavlyuchenkova and Azarenka, they are profiles in courage.
Now, a profile in callousness:
Last month British Sports Minister Nigel Huddleston said Russian and Belarusian players would have to denounce Putin to play at Wimbledon. Nothing came of that – British prime minister Boris Johnson, not a particularly good man, hasn’t enforced such a thing – so the lords of Wimbledon took it upon themselves this week. The sins of the Fatherland must be punished. Because the father is beyond reach, they will punish the children.
The rest of the field – players with the good sense to be born in places like America or Spain, not Russia or Belarus – can stop this nonsense by threatening to boycott the tournament. That would be bold, even courageous, though it wouldn’t be anywhere near as brave as Andrey Rublev walking toward the television camera with a blue marker in his hand and peace in his heart.