Ian Hewitt, chairman of the All England Lawn Tennis Club, is being hailed as a hero tonight after the Club’s ban on Russian players competing at Wimbledon prompted Vladimir Putin to order his military to leave Ukraine.
Speaking on Russian state television, the former KGB agent said that he would meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the coming days to offer Russia’s unconditional surrender. “This is a dark day for our country. The neo-Nazi hordes are rampaging across the lands to our west, but this latest treachery leaves us with no choice. A future where fit, young Russians can’t aspire to spend their summers playing lawn tennis in London is just too horrific to contemplate.”
President Zelensky thanked the Club for its efforts in ending the war, but lamented that it took so long for countries to take effective action. “The Ukrainian people have endured four long months of unprovoked violence and the rest of the world tried to do as little as possible. Diplomacy, economic embargoes and military support only go so far. Tennis-based sanctions were always the obvious answer and should have been imposed much sooner.”
Despite the decision to end hostilities, Hewitt said that the ban on Russian players competing at The Championships would continue for the foreseeable future. “It’s important that we send a strong message. People need to understand that there are consequences for being born in the wrong country. This is also an important opportunity to demonstrate that the best way to deal with any problem is to punish people who had nothing to do with it.”
