Over 20 tennis players have been banned form competing at Wimbledon in recent years due to several controversial reasons.
In just over a week, the third tennis major of the 2025 calendar gets underway as the biggest stars in the sport travel to Wimbledon for the eagerly-anticipated competition.
The likes of Novak Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz and Emma Radacanu will all compete in this year's tournament when it begins on Monday, 30 June.
In total, over 1,000 different individuals participate compete at Wimbledon every year across the men's, women's. juniors, wheelchair, legends and invitational events.
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But across the history of the 148 year old competition, there has been 20 players that were banned from registering to play in the historic tournament due to controversial actions both on and off the court.
Perhaps the most shocking incident leading to a player receiving a Wimbledon ban came back in 1995, as American player Jeff Tarango had one of the biggest meltdowns in the sport's history.
As he played against 117th ranked German Alexander Mronz in front of only a dozen fans on court 13, Tarango truly lost his head as he found himself trailing 7-6 (6), 3-1.
Serving while a break point down, the American thought had hit an ace, only for the line judge to call it out.
However, chair umpire Bruno Rebeuh decided to overrule the decision, telling the players to replay the point, angering Tarango who felt the point should have been awarded to him.
“You are the most corrupt official in the game and you can’t do that,” shouted the American before storming off the court, becoming the first player in Wimbledon history to default himself.
In a shocking moment, his wife Benedicte later stormed into the post-match press conference to reveal that she had slapped the umpire in the face as she 'defended' her husband.
As a result, Tarango was fined and banned from Wimbledon for the following year.
Nearly two decades later, in April 2022, Wimbledon decided to ban all Russian and Belarusian players from competing in response to the invasion of Ukraine.
In total, 19 different athletes were banned from playing, including Andrey Rublev, Aryna Sabalenka and then men's world number two Daniil Medvedev.
A year later, the All England Club agreed to allow all Russian and Belarusian players to return as neutral participants.
Across the years, several other players have been handed long-term bans for offences such as doping or match-fixing, meaning that they missed out on Wimbledon and several other events.
Most notably, tennis legend Maria Sharapova was handed a 15 month ban in 2016 after testing positive for Meldonium, while Simona Halep recently had her four-year ban due to a positive test for banned anemia drug Roxadustat reduced to nine months.
Where to buy last-minute Wimbledon tickets
The Wimbledon ballot may have closed for another year, but it’s not too late to buy advance tickets if you know where to look.
If you don’t mind splashing out on the experience, Seat Unique has the option to book ‘VIP Debenture Behind The Server’ and ‘VIP Debenture Front 5 Rows’ tickets.
These tickets offer 'unparalleled views' of the court, so you won't miss out on any of the action.
As for resale tickets, you'll want to head over to StubHub and Viagogo.
Ben McCrum