 Welcome back to Tennis Talk, my name's Cam Williams and with the new competition coming out next year, the United Cup, which is replacing the ATB Cup, a mixed competition with both the men and the women to play before the Australian Open, the Russian and Belarusian players have not been allowed to play the event as it's a team event. Let's go over a read of the statement that Stephen Farrow, the tournament director of the United Cup, had to say. This is what he had to say about the Russians not being allowed to play in the United Cup. If you're doing a national team competition, when players obviously are playing for the flag and for that national pride, all we're doing is taking the same position that the whole of the sport has taken. And this is what Craig Tyler had to say about the Russians being banned from the United Cup but also about their participation at the Australian Open. Like every other player, they will have to go through a visa application process. The only difference would be that they cannot represent Russia. They cannot represent the flag of Russia and they can't participate in any activity such as playing the national anthem of Russia and have to play as independent players under a neutral country name. They will be welcomed to the Australian Open in January. There you have it. That's what Craig Tyler and Stephen Farrow had to say about the Russians participating not only just in the United Cup but at the Australian Open as well. And it's a bit of a shame because we're going to lose players like Medvedev, Rublev, Kazakina, Kudamitoba, some of the best players on the planet not allowed to play the United Cup, which is a first ever tournament that's worth points. That's a joint competition or at least the first in recent memory. We obviously had the Open Cup back in the day. That was never worth points. This is actually up for ranking points. So this is going to be a very different competition. Let me know down in the comments below. What do you reckon? Do you reckon they should be able to play as a team, maybe under a neutral flag? Or do you think they shouldn't be able to play team competitions just like they're not allowed to play at the Davis Cup or at the Billie Jean King Cup this year? So the Russian and Belarusian players are not allowed to play at the United Cup next year or they can play at the Australian Open and play in Australia.