This is how the Daily Mail anticipates it, according to which the authorities of the contest are evaluating what to do in the face of the claim of the government of Prime Minister Boris Johnson in this regard as a sanction because of the war Russia is waging against Ukraine.
So far, Russian and Belarusian tennis players have competed without problems in tournaments organized by the ATP, WTA and ITF, although they do so under a neutral flag and without the verses of their anthems being played at award ceremonies.
“It is a complex and sensitive issue. We are in constant contact with the UK government, the Lawn Tennis Association and the international tennis governing bodies.”Wimbledon organizers admitted in an official statement.
“We will announce a decision on this before the participants’ registration expires in mid-May,” they added. Just a few days ago, the Russian ambassador to the United Kingdom, Andrei Kelin, denounced that the organizers of the traditional tournament pressured Russian players to condemn the war by threatening not to let them compete if they do not.
In dialogue with the Tass agency, the diplomat stated that “the attempts to prohibit the Russian presence in the humanitarian, cultural or sports fields continue.”
“I was informed that in order to participate in the Wimbledon tournament, Russian tennis players must sign documents condemning the special operation on Ukraine and this exceeds all limits”Kelin assured.
According to the ambassador, in Great Britain the feeling against his country is deepening, the cases of “Russophobia” are multiplying and “the climate that is breathed is increasingly dense”.
If Wimbledon finally gives Russian and Belarusian tennis players the thumbs down, one of the most affected would be Daniel Medvedevcurrent number two in the ATP ranking and who fights week after week to recover the No. 1 against the Serbian Novak Djokovic.
Medvedev decided to undergo surgery as a result of a hernia that has him mistreating and that will take him away from the courts for one or two months, as he anticipated, which opens a question about his presence at Roland Garros, the second Grand Slam of the year that will be played in the May 22 to June 5.
The Russian tennis player was a finalist this year at the Australian Open, a tournament in which he lost the final to the Spanish Rafael Nadal, just as it had happened the previous year against Djokovic.
The world number one fell at the end of that same season, precisely against Medvedev, in the final of the US Open, a defeat that prevented him from winning the Grand Slam.
For now, tennis has not applied such blunt sanctions to Russian athletes as other disciplines did, because for example FIFA left out of the World Cup to be held in Qatar this year the selection of that country.
Previously, the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) excluded from the Winter Games held in Beijing the Russian and Belarusian athletes who were to participate in the event, while other sports followed the same steps. Formula 1, for example, canceled the Russian Grand Prix from the calendar and even the American team Haas interrupted the contract of Russian driver Nikita Mazepin.
Source: Ambito
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