Tennis players or athletes in general have nothing to do with the war, Djokovic said. “If politics interferes with sport, the result is not good,” said the six-time Wimbledon winner. In view of the wars in the Balkans, the 34-year-old recalled that he himself was a war child. Djokovic said he was the first to condemn wars, also with a view to the suffering of the civilian population.
In reaction to the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine, the organizers of the third major of the year announced on Wednesday that players from Russia and Belarus would not be allowed to take part in the grass classic from June 27th to July 10th.
Five men and eight women are currently affected
Affected are, among others, the world number two Daniil Medvedev and his Russian compatriots Andrei Rublev (ATP-8th), Karen Khachanov (26th) and Aslan Karazew (30th) as well as the women’s world number four Aryna Sabalenka from Belarus, her compatriot Viktoria Asarenka (18th) and the Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (15th). Five men and eight women are currently missing from the top 50 at Wimbledon. The organizers admitted that it was hard for those affected to suffer from the actions of the Russian leadership.
Wimbledon is the first tennis event to take this step. There was also criticism of the two professional organizations ATP and WTA. “The WTA has repeatedly emphasized that individual athletes should not be penalized or prevented from participating because of their origin or because of decisions made by the governments of their countries,” the women’s organization said in a statement.
The WTA will examine steps and possible measures against this decision. The ATP said it was unfair to discriminate against players because of their nationality and violated the rule that participation in the Grand Slam tournament depends solely on the ATP ranking. Russia sharply criticized the Wimbledon decision.
Russia: “Political biases”
“Once again, athletes are being held hostage to any political bias, political intrigues, acts hostile to our country. That is unacceptable,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday, according to the Interfax agency. Numerous other sports have already excluded athletes from Russia and Belarus from their events in recent weeks.
