New Delhi: Wimbledon will be giving free tickets to the tournament’s ‘Middle Sunday’ to Ukraine refugees. Ukrainian refugees in the boroughs of Merton and Wandsworth and also their sponsors and charity delivering partners will be eligible for tickets, the All England Club and the Lawn Tennis Association said.
As Russia invaded Ukraine, Wimbledon banned Russian and Belarusian players. This resulted in the men’s ATP tour and women’s WTA tour taking away its ranking points. The players from Belarus were banned as it was the strategic and the staging location for the invasion.
On behalf of Wimbledon, All England Club and Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) will make a donation of 2,50,000 pounds (around Rs. 2,40,00,000) to Tennis Plays for Peace initiative and the British Red Cross Ukraine Appeal. The Ukraine refugees will join the local residents, COVID heroes from NHS and other charities on Middle Sunday. “On the eve of The Championships, I believe it’s important that we acknowledge those that are suffering so greatly due to unrelenting conflict imposed upon Ukraine,” Scot Lloyd, Chief Executive of LTA said.
“On behalf of The All England Lawn Tennis Club and the LTA, we wish to express our ongoing support for all those impacted by the conflict in Ukraine. We recognise the fantastic response from the British public to welcome Ukrainian refugees into their homes and communities,” Ian Hewitt, Chairman of the All England Club said in a statement.
‘Middle Sunday’ meant a rest day in Wimbledon and games were only held on this day if rain causes a game to be postponed. However, this year there will play on Middle Sunday which falls on July 3. The tournament will begin on June 27 and will be live-streamed on Disney+Hotstar in India.
