MOSCOW, Apr 22 Winner of the Grand Slam tournaments and one of the founders of the Women's Tennis Association (WTA), American Billie Jean King on Twitter spoke out against the decision of the Wimbledon organizers to ban Belarusian and Russian tennis players from participating in the tournament. The organizers of the Wimbledon tournament on Wednesday refused Russian and Belarusian tennis players to participate in the draw this season due to the situation in Ukraine. This decision was condemned by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) and the WTA, as well as a number of current and former players, in particular, the first racket of the world Serb Novak Djokovic and multiple Wimbledon champion Czech-American Martina Navratilova. «Decision of the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) and the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club (AELTC) regarding the participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes in the tournament this year was difficult, and I understand the pressure they had to face,» King wrote. «One of the founding principles in founding the WTA was one where every girl in the world will have a place to play if she's good enough for it.I stuck to that in 1973 and stick to it now.I can't support the suspension of individual athletes from any tournament just because their nationality,» she added.
