The millionaire fine that the WTA imposed at Wimbledon and that the tournament organizers have decided to appeal

The 2022 edition of Wimbledon, as has rarely happened in the history of the Grand Slams, was marked by controversy. It all started when the authorities of the All England Club they banned the participation of Russian and Belarusian tennis players as a sign of solidarity for the war with Ukraine.

Then, the decision of the ATP to announce that the London tournament would not give points for the ranking, which the WTA immediately joined. The organizers’ response, in addition to losing one of its longest-standing sponsors such as the Robinsons beverage brand, was to increase the prizes.

The controversy did not end with the start of the competition. According to the Daily Mail newspaper, the WTA communicated a millionaire fine: $ 750,000 for the British Tennis Federation and other 250,000 for All England.

this same moonnes Wimbledon officials announced they have already appealed the penalty imposed by the women’s circuit, with the support of the national government, which supported the initial decision from the very beginning.

“It is subject to legal proceedingsso i cant comment specifically but what i will say is that we support the decision we made, that’s why we appealed“said Sally Bolton, chief executive of Wimbledon.

“We have thought a lot about our decision,” Bolton said. “It was difficult and we thought about the consequences, but it was what we thought was the best,” he added.

Russian and Belarusian tennis players were unable to participate in all those tournaments that take place in the UK. For example, Queen’s, Eastbourne, Birmingham and Nottingham, preparations for the London Grand Slam.

This is why world number 1 Daniil Medvedev played in ´S Hertogenbosch and Halle, where he lost in the final against the wildcard Tim Van Rijthoven and Matteo Berrettini respectively, and lost in the Mallorca quarter-finals to Roberto Bautista Agut.

In this way Wimbledon loses the two players with the most victories in the field of grass: the Italian, recently champion at Queen’s and Stuttgart due to Covid, and the Russian n. 1, plus two other Top 10 like Sabalenka (7th among women) and Rublev (8th in the male branch).