Wimbledon: WTA could halve fines imposed on LTA and All England Club for banning Russian players

The $1m (£825,850) fine imposed by the WTA Tour for the ban on Russians and Belarusians at last summer’s grass court events will be halved if the players from the two nations are allowed to enter this year.

The WTA fined the organisations $750,000 (£619,485) and $250,000 (£206,495) respectively, and Wimbledon was stripped of its ranking points.

After an appeal, it has been ruled that the fines will be halved to a total of $500,000 if there is no repeat of the ban, or if the WTA is satisfied with the efforts the LTA and AELTC make to find a resolution with the UK government for this year’s events.

The LTA’s legal team is still weighing up the costs of an appeal against the $1m (£825,850) fine levied by the men’s ATP Tour.

Although the money involved is significant, the LTA’s biggest fear is that the traditional tournaments staged at The Queen’s Club, Eastbourne and elsewhere in the run-up to Wimbledon may be lost forever.

Both the WTA and ATP Tours have said they will cancel the LTA’s membership if it exercises further “discrimination based on nationality”.

News of the appeal, which was first reported by the Telegraph, comes as all parties continue negotiations about what to do this year.

“As we have said before we disagree with the outcome and the fines levied,” the LTA said in a statement.

“Nevertheless our current focus is on working with the WTA, ATP, ITF, AELTC and UK government in order to find a resolution for events in 2023.” – bbc.com