Wimbledon wants to exclude Russians and Belarusians

The current number 2 in the world Daniel Medvedev cannot participate in this year’s Wimbledon tournament if information in the prestigious newspaper The Times is confirmed, that the organizers want to exclude Russian and Belarusian players in the third Grand Slam of the year due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Since February 24, the start of Russia’s offensive in the neighboring country, Russian and Belarusian players have been able to continue competing in ATP and WTA events under a neutral flag. This agreement extends to three Grand Slam tournaments that remain to be played in 2022, while the International Tennis Federation (ITF) has already banned teams from both countries from participating in the Davis Cup and the Billie Jean King Cup (the old Fed. cup).

However, according to the British newspaper The Times, after nearly two months of talks, Wimbledon organizers are expected to ban Russian and Belarusian players from participating instead of accepting a compromise solution proposed by the British government.

The goal of these negotiations is to get players, including man number two Daniil Medvedev and woman number four Aryna Sabalenka, to sign a statement in which they promised not to make any favorable comments to Russian President Vladimir Putin. . .

But Wimbledon organizers believe the signing of such declarations could have a negative impact on the players ’families.

According to the British newspaper, the ban is likely to apply to all British grass-court tournaments this summer at Wimbledon, Queen’s and Eastbourne.

The Kremlin says this is unacceptable

The Kremlin, through its spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, declared that such a proposal was “unacceptable.”

“Again, they are holding athletes hostage to political prejudice, to political intrigue (…) This is unacceptable. Because Russia is a very strong country in tennis, with our athletes at the top of the world rankings, His exclusion will have an impact on the competition itself, “he said.