Lawn Tennis Association makes loss after fine over Russia and Belarus player ban

The Lawn Tennis Association has made a financial loss after being fined for banning Russian and Belarusian players at tournaments.

The LTA, which runs pre-Wimbledon grass-court tournaments, was fined £1.4million by the Women's Tennis Association and Association of Tennis Professionals for refusing to allow players from the two countries to compete.

The ban followed the invasion of Ukraine, but the sanctions and threats of further punishment mean Wimbledon and the LTA will not continue the restrictions this summer.

One threat included potentially stripping the tournaments from Britain.

As a result of the fine, LTA chief executive Scott Lloyd has revealed the governing body will announce a loss for 2022.

An appeal to the WTA should result in approximately £300,000 being paid back after this summer’s tournaments.

Lloyd admitted it has affected the LTA’s investment in other areas and said: “We would have spent those funds in a different way. We’d rather not invest them in fines.

“Does it mean we have fundamentally retracted from our performance competition calendar in 2023?

"No, because we feel so strongly that is the right thing to do and the right thing to continue to invest in, so we have prioritised doing so.

“It does mean there is activity elsewhere that we’ve had to slightly pull back on across a wide range.”

Other contributing factors to the overall loss were the LTA's successful bids to host a round of the Davis Cup Finals in September and then the Billie Jean King Cup Finals last November, both in Glasgow.

Ticket sales did not cover the cost of hosting the finals.

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