Posted in: 21/04/2022 – 19:48
Belgrade (AFP) – Russian Andrey Rublev, ranked eighth in the world, described Thursday the decision of the Wimbledon Championships, the third Grand Slam in tennis, to ban Russian and Belarusian players from participating this season as “complete discrimination”, suggesting that organizers donate financial prizes to the victims of the conflict.
“The reasons they gave us were meaningless, they were not logical,” Rublev said on the sidelines of his participation in the Belgrade Games.
“What is happening now is complete discrimination against us,” he added.
On Wednesday, Wimbledon imposed a ban on the participation of Russian and Belarus players in its next edition, in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which means the absence of many ranked players, most notably the two Russians, Daniel Medvedev, the second in the world, champion Flug Meadows, Rublev and Belarusian Arina Sabalenka, the fourth in the women’s semi-finals last year. .
“Banning the Russian and Belarusian players will not change anything,” Rublev added, adding that “with all the financial prizes for humanitarian aid, for families who are suffering, for children who are suffering, I think this would do something, even a little.” Noting that the total prize money in Wimbledon is 35 million pounds ($45.6 million).
“Tennis, in this case, will be the first and only sport to donate that amount of money and Wimbledon will do so, so you will get all the credit.”
And the Serbian, world number one, Novak Djokovic, also described the decision as “crazy”.
“I will always denounce war, I will never support war, especially since I am a child of war,” he said Wednesday in Belgrade. “I know very well how much emotional trauma it leaves.”
“In Serbia, we all know what happened in 1999. In the Balkans, we’ve seen many wars in recent history. However, I can’t support Wimbledon’s decision, I think it’s crazy.”
“The players, tennis players and athletes have nothing to do with it (the war). When politics interferes with sports, the result is not good,” added the 20-times major.
The All England Club, which runs Wimbledon, said it was working to “limit Russia’s global influence by the strongest possible means”.
The Professional Footballers Association “ATP” considered the decision “unfair”, while the WTA considered it “a form of discrimination”, expressing “great disappointment.”
© 2022 AFP