April 21, (THEWILL) – The decision to bar Russian and Belarusian tennis players from competing at Wimbledon this year has been labelled “crazy” by world number one, Novak Djokovic.
The All England Club announced the decision on Wednesday, shutting out US Open champion and world number 2 Daniil Medvedev, men’s world number 8 Andrey Rublev, and women’s fourth-ranked Aryna Sabalenka, among others, from competing in the Grand Slam.
However, Djokovic, the reigning Wimbledon men’s singles champion and six-time winner, expressed his displeasure with the organisers’ approach while speaking at the Serbia Open on Wednesday.
The 20-time Grand Slam champion started by saying: “I will always condemn war, I will never support war, being myself a child of war, I know how much emotional trauma it leaves. In Serbia, we all know what happened in 1999. In the Balkans we have had many wars in recent history.
“However, I cannot support the decision of Wimbledon, I think it is crazy. When politics interferes with sport, the result is not good.”
Medvedev reached the fourth round of Wimbledon last year, while Sabalenka was a beaten semi-finalist. Both players are now barred from competing at Wimbledon in June and July.
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, the world number 15 from Russia, and Victoria Azarenka, the two-time Australian Open champion from Belarus, will also be absent.
This summer, Russian and Belarusian players have been barred from participating in LTA grass court tournaments. The All England Club said in a statement: “We share in the universal condemnation of Russia’s illegal actions and have carefully considered the situation in the context of our duties to the players, to our community and to the broader UK public as a British sporting institution.”
“If circumstances change materially between now and June, we will consider and respond accordingly.”
Former world number 3, Elina Svitolina of Ukraine, on the other hand, believes that it is better for Russian and Belarusian players to speak out against the violence in her nation, and that they should be permitted to participate if they do so.
“The best way is not to ban them completely, but make them speak about the war in Ukraine, to ask them if they support the invasion in Ukraine, if they support the government”, Svitolina said.
“And if they can answer those questions and if they say that they don’t support it [the war], they don’t support Putin, they don’t support Lukashenko, then they would be allowed to participate.”
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
