London: Wimbledon has banned Russian and Belarusian players from the 2022 tournament in response to the invasion of Ukraine.

The All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC), which runs Wimbledon, said they were acting to “limit Russia’s global influence through the strongest means possible”. Russian men’s World No. 2 Daniil Medvedev and Belarusian female World No. 4 Aryna Sabalenka are the leading players affected by the ban.

“In the circumstances of such unjustified and unprecedented military aggression, it would be unacceptable for the Russian regime to derive any benefits from the involvement of Russian or Belarusian players,” an AELTC statement said.

“It is therefore our intention, with deep regret, to decline entries from Russian and Belarusian players to Wimbledon.”

Russia’s Andrey Rublev is currently eighth in the ATP rankings, while his compatriot Karen Khachanov is in 26th place.

Russian World No. 15 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Victoria Azarenka of Belarus are two of the other top female players who will miss the grass-court Grand Slam.

The Lawn Tennis Association has also banned Russian or Belarusian players from competing in British grass-court tournaments.

Wimbledon, the most high-profile of tennis’s four Grand Slam events, runs from June 27 to July 10 this year.

At present, Russian and Belarusian players are still able to compete at the French Open, which starts in May.