Players should not be penalized for “authoritarian leadership decisions”, says Women’s Tennis Association director.
Steve Simon says he “feels very, very strongly” that players from Russia and Belarus should still be able to compete on tour.
They are currently not allowed to play under the name or flag of their country, nor play in any team competition.
“You never know what the future may bring,” Simon told BBC Sport.
“But I can tell you that we have never banned athletes from our tour as a result of political positions their leaders may take.
“So it would take something very, very significant for that to change, but again, we don’t know where this is going.”
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The WTA and ATP boards called off the combined event scheduled for Moscow in October following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. And all International Tennis Federation tournaments in Russia and Belarus have been canceled indefinitely.
But none of the international governing bodies currently intend to follow sports such as track and field, badminton, canoeing and rowing by banning individual Russian and Belarusian athletes from competing.
However, if national governments start barring these players from entering their country, the tours will have no say in the matter.
“It will force us to change our position, because obviously we have to follow the rules of the government,” Simon continued.
“I feel very, very strongly that again these individual athletes should not be the ones being penalized for the decisions of an authoritarian leadership that is obviously doing terrible and reprehensible things.
“But if that happens, which is again part of the overall strategy of making Russia and Russian citizens pay for the decision that their government made, then it will not be something that we support.
“We’re hopeful they’ll refrain from that because I think there are a lot of other issues that go along with it.
“I don’t think you can mess with the athletes. What are you going to do with the [Russian] refugees coming? Are you going to treat refugees differently from athletes?
“I hope that we continue with the sanctions, we continue to do everything we can to achieve peace, but again these people are innocent victims of that, and being isolated as a result of these decisions I do not think is fair. “
UK Sports Minister Nigel Huddleston said on Tuesday that Russian players may need to make it clear they are not supporters of Vladimir Putin in order to compete at Wimbledon this year.
“Absolutely no one flying the Russian flag should be allowed or allowed,” he told a hearing of the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee.
“We need some potential guarantee that they are not Putin supporters and we are considering what requirements we may need to try to get some guarantees in that regard,” he added.
The All England Club is actively involved in these discussions.
Peng Shuai: ‘No significant progress has been made’
Simon also said there will be a decision “very, very soon” on the cancellation of all this year’s WTA tournaments in China.
Events in China and Hong Kong were called off after Peng Shuai accused former Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli of sexual assault. Since then, Peng has denied making the allegations.
The WTA wants Chinese authorities to conduct a “full, fair and transparent” investigation before any of the tournaments can take place.
“There is still a lot of work going on,” Simon said.
“We will never stop working on the process. We are strong and we will be resilient. What we have said we are going to do so far, we are not going to doubt that. But no significant progress has been made.”
Simon has not been able to have a private conversation with the former doubles world number one since she made the accusation. A decision to cancel the sequence of tournaments planned for China, due to start in late September, could be made when the WTA Board meets in Miami later this month.
Nine tournaments were hosted in China in 2019, and Simon says cities in Europe, the Americas and Australia have expressed interest in filling the gap.
The financial repercussions of pulling out of China altogether are huge, but the WTA has, at least recently, ended its long search for a global sponsor.
Medical technology company Hologic has agreed to the “largest global sponsorship in WTA history”.
“They noticed us because of the stance we took on Peng Shuai,” Simon added.
“I think it encouraged them that we were someone they want to talk to.”
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