Stefanos Tsitsipas, Novak Djokovic, and Rafael Nadal are three of the top tennis players that took issue with Wimbledon banning Russian and Belarusian players from the second tennis major event of the season over Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine and Belarus siding with the Kremlin.
No. 2 men’s player Daniil Medvedev, current U.S. Open men’s singles champion, is among those affected by a ban. Aryna Sabalenka, the No. 4 women’s player who is from Belarus, is also banned.
“It’s not the players’ fault”, the Greek tennis player said, who is half Russian on his mother’s side.
“I think it’s very unfair of (on) my Russian tennis mates, my colleagues … it’s not their fault what’s happening in this moment with the war,” Nadal said in Spain, where he and the Serbian tennis star are getting ready to play at the Madrid Open.
Djokovic compared the situation to when he was banned from the Australian Open and the country of Australia for not being vaccinated against the coronavirus.
“It’s not the same thing, but going through something similar earlier this year for myself, it’s frustrating knowing that you’re not able to play. I still stand by my position that I don’t support the (Wimbledon) decision. I think it’s just not fair, it’s not right, but it is what it is,” he said.
