Here are three things I strongly believe, and I don’t think they’re at all contradictory:
I want Russia to get its ass thoroughly kicked by Ukraine.
The Russian government, companies and oligarchs - though I repeat myself - should be sanctioned so hard they’ll feel like they’ve been run over by the Fortnite Battle Bus. (2a. Putin and his minions should actually be run over by the Fortnite Battle Bus.)
Russian and Belarussian tennis players banned because of their nationality should sue the Wimbledon organizers because of this blatant discrimination.
Jon Wertheim in Sports Illustrated:
Wednesday morning, The New York Times was the first outlet to report that Wimbledon plans to ban Russian and Belarusian players from the 2022 tournament, a form of both protest and punishment for the war in Ukraine.
Every other tennis tournament strenuously has avoided taking this step, one in direct contradiction to the stance of the ATP and WTA. As WTA CEO Steve Simon told Sports Illustrated last month: “The WTA feels strongly that individual athletes should not be penalized due to the decisions made by the leadership of their country.” Wimbledon acts alone.
Most directly and immediately, this ban will impact dozens of players. There are two Russians embedded in the ATP’s top 10: Andrey Rublev and Daniil Medvedev. Medvedev, in addition to having recently achieved the No. 1 ranking, is the reigning U.S. Open champion. Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus, currently the WTA’s No. 4 ranked player, reached the semifinals last year. Victoria Azarenka, a 32-year-old from Belarus—though a U.S. resident since she was a teenager—is a two-time major champion. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova is a major finalist. Using today’s rankings, more than 20 singles-eligible players have been banned—far more in doubles and juniors.
But beyond resetting the draw, this move resets precedent. Wimbledon has essentially said that individual athletes—who may no longer even be residing, much less voting, in their country of nationality—can be punished for acts of that country’s leader. And this is not banning a Russian soccer or biathlon team from competition, nor is it making athletes compete under a neutral flag. This is the banning of independent contractors, none of whom compete with funding from their countries of origin.
And what then, of players from a country that, say, executes a genocide against a Muslim minority? Or carries out other human rights abuses that Wimbledon deems offensive? Or players of one sovereign country that invades another sovereign country on bogus grounds of seeking weapons of mass destruction?
You know my feelings about Putin and his “special military operation.” And yet, it’s downright surreal seeing people not normally known for supporting discrimination based on country of origin all in favor of punishing people because of where their birth certificates were printed.
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