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April 25 (UPI) -- The All England Club and Lawn Tennis Association will fund housing costs for all Ukrainian players during the grass-court season and donate to war relief efforts, Wimbledon officials announced Tuesday morning. Wimbledon 2023 will be held from July 3 to 16 at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in London.
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"For the Ukrainian players, the All England Club and the LTA will fund the accommodation costs of two rooms for all main draw and qualifying players for the entirety of the grass-court season," All England Club chairman Ian Hewitt said in a news release.
"Those players will also be offered the opportunity to practice at either the All England Club's courts or via the LTA at the Surbiton courts between their last match at Roland-Garros [the French Open] and the Saturday prior to qualifying week at Wimbledon."
Wimbledon officials announced in March that Russian and Belarusian players will be allowed to compete this year in the grass-court Grand Slam. Those players were banned in 2022 because of the roles their countries played in the invasion of Ukraine. They must complete as "neutral" athletes.
All England Club executive Sally Bolton said Tuesday at a news conference that the tournament will not be broadcasted in Russia or Belarus.
She also said that Russian and Ukrainian media members are not allowed at the tournament. Flags and signs of support for those countries are banned from tournament grounds.
Bolton said Russian and Belarusian players have started signing a declaration, confirming that they will not show their support for those countries or the war, while at the tournament.
"Our announcement was made last month after careful and deep consideration," Hewitt said. "At the time, we set out the factors which informed our decision and why, taking all circumstances into account, we consider these to be the appropriate arrangements for Wimbledon this year.
"It was a difficult and challenging decision, which was made with the full support of our UK Government and the international stakeholder bodies in tennis, but does not lessen in any way our total condemnation of Russia's illegal invasion of Ukraine."
Hewitt said one pound, or about $1.24 USD, per ticketholder, will be donated to Ukrainian relief efforts. Organizers will invite 1,000 Ukrainian refugees for a day at the tournament, which will include tickets, food, drinks and transport.
Officials also said that in-match coaching will be allowed this year at Wimbledon. Men's doubles matches were decreased from a best-of-five format to best-of-three in another playing-related change.
No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka and No. 16 Victoria Azarenka are the Top 2 Belarusian women's players who will be allowed to return to Wimbledon. No. 8 Daria Kasatkina, No. 13 Veronika Kudermetovam No. 17 Ekaterina Alexandrova and No. 18 Ludmila Samsonova are the top Russian women who could compete.
No. 3 Daniil Medvedev and No. 12 Karen Khachanov are the top Russian men who can participate. No. 69 Ilya Ivashka is the only Belarusian player in the Top 500 of the ATP Tour rankings.
No. 1 Novak Djokovic of Serbia was the men's singles champion of Wimbledon 2022. No. 7 Elena Rybakina, who was born in Russian, but represents Kazakhstan, was the 2022 women's singles champion.
The clay-court season will run through the 2023 French Open. That Grand Slam will be held from May 28 to June 11 in Paris. The grass-court season will start June 12.
