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You won’t often hear booing at Wimbledon — the most likely reason is when rain stops play.
And yet no one quite knew how the return of Russian and Belarusian players, while the war in Ukraine continues, would go down with the crowd.
Monday morning brought an early litmus test when Andrey Rublev stepped on court. The Russian was greeted amicably and left to a standing ovation.
The atmosphere might not be so warm, however, in the confines of the locker room. The Athletic understands there has been frostiness between players from Ukraine, Russia and Belarus at tournaments in recent months, while players from other nations have suggested Russian and Belarusians should have been made to publicly denounce the war before being allowed to compete here.
Under pressure from the UK government last year, the All England Club banned players from those nations from taking part in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. It was a decision supported by many Ukrainian players, but plenty within tennis were critical of it, particularly when it was at odds with the stance of the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and men’s and women’s tours, as well as the other three grand…
