Wimbledon ban of Russian players is not a slam dunk

Sports leagues and competitions have been falling over themselves to ban Russia from competitive international sports since Russia's illegal invasion of Ukraine in February. It seems to have galvanized professional sports like no other issue since the Second World War.

It seems, on the surface at least, to be an unambiguous, even uncontroversial, action, a clear message to President Putin that his war is completely unacceptable in polite society (even if Putin doesn't actually care what anybody else thinks).

The latest such announcement comes from the world of tennis: Wimbledon has outright banned any Russian or Belarusian athletes from attending the high-profile tennis completion in June. Gone at the stroke of a pen are men's No. 2 Daniil Medvedev and No. 8 Andrey Rublev, and women's No. 4 Aryna Sabalenka and No. 16 Victoria Azarenka, among several others.

While I understand and appreciate the gesture, it's still not completely clear to me that it's the right thing to do. Should Russian individuals be punished for the sins of their government or, even more starkly, for the sins of one individual over whom they have no control? What if they are strongly against the war themselves? Should a player be proscribed because they were born on the wrong side of a national border? Does this kind of feel-good action actually have any concrete effect anyway, or is it just meaningless virtue-signalling?

The Women's Tennis Association and the Association of Tennis Professionals have both slammed the Wimbledon decision, and Russian and Belarusian players are expected to be able to play at the French and US Opens. You can almost see Putin rubbing his hands at the dissent and disagreement in the West.

Interestingly, even the view from Ukraine is not 100% unanimous. The Wimbledon ban came largely as a result of a concerted campaign by Ukrainian tennis player Marta Kostyuk (ranked world No. 55), who was elated by the ban: "This was a very important decision to make by Wimbledon, and I really respected and appreciated it". However, fellow Ukrainian Elina Svitolina has come out strongly against the ban: "We don't want them banned completely ... If players don't speak out against the Russian government, then it is the right ring to ban them ... If they didn't choose, they didn't vote for this government, then it's fair they should be allowed to play and compete ... We just want them to speak up."

I have to say, that seems like a reasonable line to take, although I surprise myself my saying so. Give the individuals the benefit of the doubt. Let them make public denunciations of the war, if they dare. Don't just tar all Russians with the same brush.