The WTA stated that whereas it doesn’t help an exhibition occasion being held in Russia this weekend gamers who participate in it won’t be sanctioned.
The second version of the Northern Palmyra Trophies event shall be held from Dec. 1-3 in St. Petersburg and options gamers from each the WTA and males’s ATP Tour.
The occasion, which is sponsored by Russian vitality large Gazprom, is being held whereas Russia continues its warfare with Ukraine.
“This occasion will not be affiliated with the WTA neither is the WTA supportive of the occasion being held,” the governing physique of ladies’s tennis informed Reuters on Monday.
“Gamers compete on the WTA Tour as unbiased contractors and, at their discretion, have the flexibility to take part in an exhibition with out penalty throughout the low season.”
Representatives for the lads’s ATP Tour didn’t reply to a request for remark.
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Among the many WTA gamers collaborating are former French and U.S. Open quarter-finalist Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan, Russian world quantity 28 Anastasia Potapova and former Roland Garros quarter-finalist Veronika Kudermetova, who can also be from Russia.
ATP gamers embody world quantity 15 Karen Khachanov of Russia, Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain and France’s Adrian Mannarino, based on the occasion’s web site.
Wimbledon banned Russian and Belarusian gamers in 2022, which prompted the excursions to strip the occasion of rating factors that 12 months, however allowed them to return as neutrals this 12 months.
Greater than 10,000 civilians have been killed in Ukraine since Russia invaded in February 2022, the U.N. Human Rights Workplace stated final week.