Wimbledon shows its support for Ukraine

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Shahmaz Aziz left no doubt about who she was supporting when she arrived at Wimbledon’s Court 14 on Monday for Leylah Fernandez’s first-round match against Kateryna Baindl of Ukraine.

It clearly wasn’t the Canadian.

Aziz came decked out head to toe in the yellow and blue of Ukraine’s national flag. She wore a yellow dress, a blue head scarf and painted her fingernails in the same colour scheme. “I thought if I’m going to come, I’ll come in the national colours and provide proper support to Ukraine,” she said during a break in the match.

She was accompanied by her friend Ihor Kostyuk, who is from the western Ukrainian city of Lviv, and his buddy Oksana Karpevych, who arrived in London a few days ago from Lviv. They’d all come to cheer on Baindl and fellow Ukrainian Elina Svitolina, who also played on Monday and defeated Venus Williams 6-4, 6-3.

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Even though Baindl lost to Fernandez – 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 – Karpevych was thrilled to be at the championships. But she had no plans to stay in Britain for long. “I’m going back to Ukraine of course,” she said. “I work there, I live there. I love the city. I love the country.”

The war in Ukraine is more than 2,000 kilometres from the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, but the conflict has become an underlying theme of this year’s tournament.

Wimbledon organizers dropped their ban on players from Russia and Belarus after pressure from the ATP and WTA tours, but they’ve been open about their support for Ukraine. They’ve covered accommodation costs for Ukrainian players and offered them training facilities. Wimbledon is also donating £1 from each ticket sold to the British Red Cross for its programs in Ukraine, which amounts to roughly £500,000 ($838,000) in total.

Lifting the ban “was a difficult decision,” Wimbledon’s chief executive Sally Bolton told reporters on Monday. “We took a lot of time to think carefully about the decision we made and the impact that that would have.”

She added that all the Russian and Belarusian players have signed a “declaration of neutrality” and agreed not to show any support for the war. “All of those athletes are competing as neutrals; they’ve all signed the declaration. And we’re now just looking forward to everybody getting on the courts,” she said.

While fans are allowed to wave national flags during matches, Bolton said Russian and Belarusian flags have been banned. Players have been permitted to wear yellow-and-blue ribbons to show their support for Ukraine.

The few Russians and Belarusians who played on Monday got through their matches without any incidents or hostility from the crowd.

“I’m really happy to be back and to compete,” said Andrey Rublev, who is from Russia and ranked seventh in the world. Rublev has expressed opposition to the war, and he has played doubles at several tournaments with Ukraine’s Denys Molchanov.

On Monday Rublev said he disagreed with Wimbledon’s decision to ban players last year, making it the only Grand Slam to bar Russians and Belarusians. “If we really want to help or do what is better for tennis and for the people, I think obviously there was better options. Not just to ban,” he said after defeating Australia’s Max Purcell 6-3, 7-5, 6-4. “They did only worse to themselves.”

Veronika Kudermetova, who is also from Russia, said the crowd had been largely supportive during her 7-6, 6-4 win over Kaia Kanepi of Estonia. “I think it doesn’t matter from which country you are, we are here just a tennis player, we are here to compete and try to show our best,” she said after the match.

But she acknowledged there was some tension in the locker room with players from Ukraine. “I say hi. Some people, they reply; some not,” she added. “I just say here we are just a tennis player.”

After her match, Svitolina said her thoughts rarely stray from the war despite whatever success she has in tennis.

“Every moment that I’m not on the court, I’m checking how my family is doing, how the situation is in Ukraine, monitoring all the time what is happening,” she said. “So, this is pretty much the life that I have now on the day-to-day basis.”

She speaks to her father and grandmother in Ukraine every day and draws inspiration from people back home. “People are having horrible times in Ukraine right now, and for me is no excuses to complain,” she said. “Because I have an amazing, an amazing life.”