Executive Committee decision to suspend IC of Russia

The invasion of Ukraine by Russia, and the human tragedy that is unfolding in Ukraine, is to be condemned. It is not the way to settle international grievances and is diametrically opposed to the IC Council’s explicit Purpose of fostering international understanding and goodwill.

The Executive Committee of the Council of International Lawn Tennis Clubs (IC Council) has suspended the International Club (IC) of Russia, as an organisation, from the IC Council’s activities and from the IC Council’s meetings, including the Annual General Meeting. The IC of Russia’s membership of the IC Council is now suspended pending a formal discussion of the matter at the IC Council’s AGM in July 2022.

We are very conscious that there may be members of the IC of Russia who disagree with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and who may also be honorary, or visiting, members of other ICs. We are considering how these IC members may, as individuals, continue to participate in IC activities but without, of course, representing the IC of Russia.

We are a community of international tennis players who believe in the value of international friendships: "hands across the net means hands across the ocean." The first International Tennis Club (IC), the International Tennis Lawn Tennis Club of Great Britain, was founded in London in 1924 in the wake of the tragedy of the Great War. In 1946 the ICs then in existence met in Paris after the Second World War and agreed on the formation of the IC Council to foster the growth of ICs, of like-minded international tennis players, in other countries.

It is our fervent hope that the bloodshed in Ukraine will end immediately, and that peace terms will be agreed between Ukraine and Russia, allowing us to reconsider our decision.