The announcement that the All England Lawn Tennis Club would ban Russian and Belarusian players due to the conflict in Ukraine has received a mixed reaction, despite the action largely mirroring other sporting organisations at this time.

Both the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) and Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) have lodged their objections to the move, with the former saying its Board will consider sanctions against the tournament.

The two organisations have allowed players from both nations to compete neutrally to date and one wonders whether their opposition to Wimbledon’s move could be an attempt to dissuade other tournaments from following suit. Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi is reported to be considering intervening to prohibit players from both nations from competing at the Italian Open, which begins on May 9.

A trickle of tournaments banning players could easily become a flood, with the storyline potentially flowing throughout the 2022 season as the conflict in Ukraine continues.

The French Open has indicated it will not follow Wimbledon, with French Tennis Federation President Gilles Moretton saying Russian and Belarusian players will be permitted to compete at the second Grand Slam of the season under a "regime of strict neutrality".

While there are ongoing challenges for the WTA and ATP off the court in this sense, both organisations must be content at how recent weeks have gone on it.

Four-time Grand Slam winner Naomi Osaka spoke prior to the Madrid Open about the emergence this season of teenager Carlos Alcaraz, suggesting the Spaniard has reinvigorated the ATP circuit.

"I feel like he's genuinely made everyone excited about the ATP and I haven't seen that in a very long time," Japan's Osaka told Agence France-Presse.

"I'm not even really thinking about his age, like every time someone brings up his age, I'm like, 'Oh wow, I forget, that's so cool.' I think just his game style, just how pumped he is, how I feel like I'm watching him learn with every tournament.

"I don't know what his ranking was last year here, but I've watched almost every tournament that he's played, the US Open when he played [Stefanos] Tsitsipas and just to see the growth I think is really exciting for everyone."

Alcaraz’s performances have been one of the highlights of the season to date, with the ATP’s long-standing stars - other than compatriot Rafael Nadal - experiencing a mix of injury, struggles for form or COVID-19 vaccine-related issues.

The 18-year-old has delivered a growing highlight reel of absurd shots, as well as an increasing his trophy cabinet. A remarkable forehand winner when facing match point against Australia’s Alex de Minaur became an instant social-media sensation.

The fact Alcaraz went on to win the semi-final match at the Barcelona Open and the final the same day only enhanced it further.

Wins at the Rio and Miami Opens, the latter a first ATP Masters 1000 title, have also helped Alcaraz become the first teenager to break into the top 10 in the rankings since Britain's Andy Murray in 2007.

Osaka is certainly onto something then, when she highlights the freshness Alcaraz has brought to the tour this season. Unsurprisingly the comparisons have between the reigning ATP NextGen champion to Nadal, who got the better of his emerging rival in a three-set match at Indian Wells.

The pair could be on course to meet again in the quarter-finals at the Madrid Open. The tournament could see Alcaraz, who has won 23 and lost three matches this year, enhance his billing as the successor to Nadal as Spain’s leading man and as a potential future world number one in the sport.

The WTA Tour had been shocked in March with the surprise announcement that Ashleigh Barty was retiring at the age of 25, just weeks after winning the Australian Open in front of a home crowd.

The three-time Grand Slam singles champion’s exit from the sport came after 114 consecutive weeks at the top of the world rankings, the fourth-longest spell in WTA history.

Poland’s Iga Świątek, who was elevated to the top of the rankings, admitted she had cried for 40 minutes after Barty’s announcement.

The top ranking has appeared in good hands though, with Świątek seeming to have embraced the status in recent weeks. The 20-year-old won the first three WTA 1000 events of the season - Qatar Open, Indian Wells Masters and Miami Open - before clinching the Stuttgart Open title.

A 23-match unbeaten run is one of the longest WTA streaks and included 28 consecutive sets. The domination has been reflected in the scorelines, with Świątek regularly handing out bagels and breadsticks to her opponents - winning sets 6-0 or 6-1.

Świątek has withdrawn from the Madrid Open to rest a shoulder problem prior to the Italian Open, with a view to peaking at Roland Garros.

The French Open had marked Świątek’s arrival at the elite level in 2020, winning her maiden Grand Slam title at the event. She had already underlined her talent at youth level with the Wimbledon junior title and Buenos Aries 2018 Youth Olympic mixed doubles gold, with the achievements leading to her nomination for a European Olympic Committees award.

The WTA has at times seen questions over the consistency of the top stars since the dominance of the Williams era. Świątek appears to have cracked it having been the only player on the WTA Tour to reach the quarter-finals of all four Grand Slam events last year, before her recent dominant displays.

Both Świątek and Alcaraz’s recent displays have certainly given tennis fans something to savour as the French Open approaches.