Wimbledon has announced a ban on Russian and Belarussian players protesting Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

According to Sportico, players of Russian nationality will be denied entry to the tournament regardless of their personal opinions towards the war.

Last month, Nigel Huddleston, the British Minister for Sport, stated that Russians would have to demonstrate ideological alignment with the conflict's current narrative to participate.

"We require some assurance that they are not Putin supporters, and we are considering what conditions we might impose to obtain such assurances," Huddleston explained.

This alternative, however, appears to have been overlooked in favor of an absolute prohibition.

The ruling supersedes a previous instruction from tennis' governing bodies, the ITF, the WTA, and the ATP, which said that Russian and Belarussian players could continue competing on tour events as neutrals without wearing national flags colors.

Daniil Medvedev, the world number two and last year's US Open champion, will be unable to compete at Wimbledon, which begins on June 27th.

Andrey Rublev, Karen Khachanov, and Aslan Karatsev are among Russia's top 30 men's players; former world number one Victoria Azarenka and current world number four Aryna Sabalenka be absent.

The suspension counter WTA President Steve Simon's recent stance that individual players should not be punished for their countries' conduct.

"There is no telling what the future holds. However, I can state categorically that we have never prohibited players from participating in our tour due to their leadership's political views," Simon stated.