Russian Andrey Rublev (ATP 8) said Thursday that the exclusion of Russian and Belarusian players from the next Wimbledon tournament due to the conflict in Ukraine was “totally discriminatory”.
“The reasons they (red: Wimbledon organizers) gave us had, how to say, no sense, they were not logical,” he said on the sidelines of the ATP tournament in Belgrade. “What is happening now is totally discriminatory against us,” he continued.
“It will not change anything,” also assured Andrey Rublev, who had written “No war please” on a television camera during the Dubai tournament just after the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
‘Giving the tournament prizes to humanitarian aid, to families who are suffering, to children who are suffering, that’s something that would have a little impact,’ he said. ‘In that case, tennis would be the only sport to give away such an amount, and it would be thanks to Wimbledon, who would get all the glory.’
A ‘crazy’ decision for Nole
The organizers of the Major on grass announced on Wednesday the exclusion from the 2022 edition of the tournament of Russian and Belarusian players due to the war in Ukraine. This decision is strongly contested by the ATP and the WTA, which manage the men’s and women’s circuits.
World No 1 Novak Djokovic called the Wimbledon tournament decision ‘crazy’, while saying he would ‘always condemn war, being a child of war himself’. The Serb spoke on Wednesday after his first match at the Belgrade tournament.
/ATS