The All England Club will ban the participation of the Russians and Belarusians in the invasion of Ukraine.

Paris. The men's and women's professional tennis tours will not award ranking points at Wimbledon this year after the Grand Slam tournament banned Russian and Belarusian tennis players due to the invasion of Ukraine.

Both the WTA and the ATP announced their unprecedented decisions two days before the start of the French Open and just over a month before Wimbledon action on June 27.

Last April, the All England Club said it would not allow the Russians and Belarusians to compete in the grass-court Slam.

Russian athletes have been banned from many sports, including World Cup playoffs, since Russia launched its team player invasion of Ukraine last February. Belarus has helped t in the attack.

"The possibility for players of any nationality to participate in tournaments merit will be based without discrimination is fundamental to tour," the ATP said in a written statement. "Wimbledon's decision to ban Russian and Belarusian from competing in the UK this summer undermines this principle and the integrity of the ATP result grading system. It is also inconsistent with our qualifying agreement."

Saying it makes its decision "with great regret and reluctance," the ATP added that "our rules and agreements exist to protect players' rights in general. Failure to respond to unilateral decisions of this nature would set a damaging precedent for the rest of the tour. 

Discrimination against individual tournaments is not feasible in a time that operates in more than 30 countries.

The WTA released a statement from its executive Director, Steve Simon, speaking out on Wimbledon.

"50 years about ars ago, the WTA was founded on the fundamental principle that all tennis players have an equal chance to compete based on merit and without discrimination. The WTA believes that an individual who participates in an individual sport should not be penalized or prevented from competing because of their nationality or because of decisions by the governments of their countries."

In addition, the International Tennis Federation said it would not award ranking points for the junior and  wheelchair events at Wimbledon, explaining that "tournament organizers are not authorized to unilaterally impose entry requirements."

Among the prominent tennis players affected by the ban at Wimbledon is Daniil Medvedev, the reigning US Open champion who recently rose to first place in the rankings and is now number two; Andrey Rublev, Arina Sabalenka, a semi-finalist at Wimbledon last year; and Victoria Azarenka, who twice won the Australian Open.

Medvedev and Rublev are Russian. Sabalenka and Azarenka are Belarusian.

Everyone will be able to play in Paris, and Medvedev dodged the subject of Wimbledon on Friday.

"Right now, I'm thinking only on Roland Garros," he said at the pre-tournament press conference. "I find myself here."