WTA Chief Steve Simon not in favour of banning players of Russia-Ukraine war

The head of the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) Steve Simon says he is not in favour of banning athletes from sporting events due to “authoritarian leadership”.

Players on the ATP and WTA Tours are no longer allowed to play under the Russian and Belarusian flags and names following Russia’s invasion of the Ukraine with a directive stating they can only compete as individuals. Many felt it was a soft stance as athletics and badminton organisations, among others, have banned athletes from those countries from competing at international events.

Speaking to BBC Sport, Steve Simon was asked about it and he said:

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“You never know what the future may bring. But I can tell you that we have never banned athletes from participating on our Tour as the result of political positions their leadership may take. So it would take something very, very significant for that to change, but again we don’t know where this is going.”

Speaking further on it, he said:

"There is, of course, always a chance that individual governments could ban players from Russia and Belarus from entering their countries and that could force the hands of the tennis powers that be. It will force us to change our position, because obviously we have to follow the rules of government."

Simon finished off with:

“I feel very, very strongly that again these individual athletes should not be the ones that are being penalised by the decisions of an authoritarian leadership that is obviously doing terrible, reprehensible things."