Australian tennis player John Millman gets it completely wrong about Wimbledon’s Russia ban
Spare me the bleating about Russian and Belarusian tennis players being treated harshly. Anyone seen the war?
Not so long ago, after an Australian athlete scored a rather monumental triumph, I sent her a text message. Congratulations, legend.
Her reply took me by surprise. It read, “Thanks. Sport is important but it’s so very unimportant all in the same breath.”
Too true. All those Olympic and Paralympic gold medals and football grand finals and the twin Ashes triumphs and the Women’s World Cup and Ash Barty winning the Australian Open and then Ash Barty quitting … it’s all so important yet spectacularly unimportant in the same breath and sentence. Russia bombs Ukraine while Belarus nods its hideous encouragement and there can be nothing less important in this world than whether Daniil Medvdev gets to play Wimbledon.
Ask a Ukrainian. None of us really knows how it feels. Not here in sheltered and unaffected Australia. Imagine China bombing the bejesus out of us. Murdering thousands of us. Reckon we’d let Chinese players come to the Australian Open? You’d hope not. England ain’t being attacked by Russia, but that makes the action of the All England Club all the meritorious. It could have tucked into a tub of strawberries and cream, sipped on a Pimms and sat on its hands, but instead it got down and dirty. The most important tennis club in the world acknowledged there’s something more important going on. The stance means something because Wimbledon could have done what the French Open has done. Nothing.
See the weeping kids in Ukraine hospitals with a leg blown clean off? No, Medvedev and Andrey Rublev weren’t responsible for that. See the footage of dead bodies strewn along the streets of Mariupol, just lying there like rag dolls thrown from a cot, arms and legs and neck mutated at unnatural angles, soaking in their own blood?
No, Aryna Sabalenka and Victoria Azarenka played no role there. But there has to be action against Russia in all its possible forms, and this is one of them. Surely they can see that. Surely they understand that being forced from the world’s most famous sporting event isn’t quite comparable to being incinerated by a Russian bomb.
The ATP and WTA tours have criticised Wimbledon. Sporting bodies need to pipe down. They’re important and yet so spectacularly unimportant in the same breath.
Humanitarianism trumps sport a million times over. Right over wrong is paramount but Russia has the nerve to be playing the victim.
Our poor athletes don’t deserve this, says the Kremlin. “Once again they simply turn athletes into hostages to political prejudice, political intrigues,” spokesman Dmitry Peskov has told reporters. “This is unacceptable. Taking into account that Russia is a very strong tennis country, our athletes are at the top of world rankings, the competition itself will suffer from their removal.”
The competition itself will not suffer one jot. No-one will miss the vanquished. Wimbledon has torn up its broadcast deal with a Russian television partner, too. Good. No Russians will be able to watch the tournament. Good.
Ask a Ukrainian, as Australia’s John Millman inadvertently did on Thursday. Millman meant no harm but he got it completely wrong, accusing Wimbledon of a PR exercise and telling the club to donate money to Ukraine instead. He raised the ire of Ukraine player Marta Kostyuk in a Twitter exchange that went as follows.
Millman: “I feel like Ukraine would be better served if Wimbledon donated their entire profit in support aid instead of banning the Russian and Belarusian players.”
Kostyuk: “Ukraine needs peace and freedom that we are dying for right now. Not money. Anyone who thinks that decision like this one is targeting players personally is pretty selfish. Players are great part of propaganda and big example to their fans. Silence is a betrayal.’’
Millman: “Maybe I could have gotten my message across more clearly. I’m in total support of Ukraine and its people. I just feel like Wimbledon is doing this more for their own gain, for good optics rather than to actually help. I pray for your family.”
Kostyuk: “As we can all see, Wimbledon definitely didn’t get any gain so far and is facing a lot of difficulties. Nothing personal, but I hope other tournaments will act the same. Unless players speak out. Thank you.”
Game, set, match, Kostyuk. Kostyuk’s countrywoman Elena Svitolina, the highest-profile Ukraine player, had already written an open letter to the tennis community.
“Ginetta Sagan once said, ‘Silence in the face of injustice is complicity with the oppressor,’ it says. “This could not be any more true right now … there is a war in our country, in our home. All Ukrainians are forced to leave their homes and fight for their lives. As athletes we live a life in the public eye and therefore have an enormous responsibility. Some of our posts and opinions on social media reach an audience larger than those of regional television stations. In times of crisis, silence means agreeing with what is happening. We noticed that some Russian and Belarusian players at some point vaguely mentioned the war, but never clearly stating that Russia and Belarus started it on the territory of Ukraine. The very silence of those who choose to remain that way right now is unbearable as it leads to the continuation of murder in our homeland.”
Svitolina and Kostyuk are right. So is Wimbledon. The individual careers of athletes like Medvedev, Rublev, Sabalenka and Azarenka are meaningless compared to what’s happening in Ukraine. So is tennis, so is any sport. I’ve never more admired the All England Club. The punishment isn’t harsh, anyway. A few athletes aren’t allowed to have a game of tennis. Boo-hoo. There a simple truth about Wimbledon’s decision. There are no real victims. Not one.
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