Two wars and the great differences between the two circuits of professional tennis

The situation in the locker rooms – especially in the women’s circuit, with the crossed declarations between the Polish women Iga Swiatek and Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk on the one hand and Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka on the other – refers to the time of the war between Russia and Ukraine to what happened a long time ago 41 years with the Malvinas War. Sunday will be a new anniversary of the Argentine landing in the islands and that historic event has also changed the calendars of Argentine players. For example, none of them decided to play the tournaments in Bournemouth (from 19 to 25 April on clay), Queen’s (from 7 to 13 June on grass) and Bristol (from 14 to 20 June, also on grass). Also They didn’t go to Wimbledonin addition to the fact that it began on June 21, a week after the surrender of the Argentine troops.

Guillermo Vilas and José Luis Clerc were, at that time, respectively second and fifth in the world rankings. Even a handful of weeks earlier both had lost to Swede Wilander in the final (Vilas) and semifinal (Clerc) at Roland Garros. And while obviously the game of both had nothing to do with grass as opposed to brick dust, both were very powerful figures on the circuit. But they refused to play for All England. “Out of respect for the Argentine soldiers,” Clerc says today.

“Nobody forced us, nobody told us that we shouldn’t play Wimbledon or in the rest of the tournaments that were played at that time in Great Britain. But we feel like this. And that’s why we don’t travel,” she recalls.

“I also donated money for soldiers. Has he arrived at his destination? I don’t know…” she says with a resigned smile.

Clerc also recounts that “the relationship with the English tennis players was very good. There was no talk of the war. At that time Great Britain had players like Buster Mottram or Richard Lewis in the top 100. There was also John Lloyd, who was Chris Evert’s husband. We only talked to them about tennis.”

It’s been 41 years. Two wars. And many differences.