LONDON — Men’s tennis world number two
Daniil Medvedev is set to be barred from this year’s Wimbledon Grand Slam
tournament as The Times reported organizers are to ban Russian and Belarus
players due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
اضافة اعلان
Russian and
Belarusian players have been able to
continue to compete in ATP and WTA events under a neutral flag since Russia
invaded Ukraine on February 24.
It was believed
this would extend to the three remaining Grand Slam events — though the ITF
banned both countries’ teams from the
Davis Cup and the Billie Jean King Cup.
However, The Times says sources have told them that
after almost two months of talks Wimbledon organizers prefer to ban the players
rather than adhere to a compromise solution offered by the British government.
That would have seen the likes of Medvedev and last
year’s Wimbledon women’s singles semi-finalist
Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus sign
statements that they would not make supportive comments of Russian President
Vladimir Putin or the war.
Wimbledon organizers believe signing such statements
could impact negatively on the families of the players.
The BBC reported that confirmation of the decision
is to come later on Wednesday. The Kremlin reacted angrily
to the reports deeming it “unacceptable”.
“Once again they simply turn athletes into hostages
to political prejudice, political intrigues,” Kremlin spokesman
Dmitry Peskov
told reporters. “This is unacceptable.”
“Taking into account that Russia is a very strong
tennis country, our athletes are at the top of world rankings, the competition
itself will suffer from their removal,” he added.
It is likely that this ban will apply to all British
grass-court tournaments this summer.
The
Lawn Tennis Association (LTA), which oversees
key Wimbledon warm-up tournaments such as Queen’s and Eastbourne, said last
week they would follow Wimbledon’s lead.
“We think from a public perspective and indeed a
practical implementation perspective that there needs to be alignment (between
the All England Club and LTA1), so it is really clear and understood,” said LTA
chief executive Scott Lloyd.
“That is critically important.”
Russian and Belarus players have been muted in their
condemnation of the war though men’s world number eight
Andrey Rublev did
scrawl ‘no war please’ on a TV camera when competing in Dubai just after the
invasion took place.
Medvedev — presently recuperating after a hernia
operation — restricted himself to saying “I want peace in all of the world.”
However, Russia’s top female player Anastasia
Pavlyuchenkova was more forthright.
Belarusian tennis star
Victoria Azarenka, a former
world number one and two-time Grand Slam title winner, was also outspoken.
“It is heartbreaking to see how many innocent people
have been affected and continue to be affected by such violence,” the
32-year-old said in March.
“I have always seen and experienced Ukrainian and
Belarusian people friendly and supportive of each other. It’s hard to witness
the violent separation currently taking place.”
Belarus is seen as an ally of
Russia and facilitated
the invasion by allowing troops to cross over their border into Ukraine.
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