Big guns blast Wimbledon ban
Rafa, Novak and Andy wade into the Russia row
Wimbledon still faces an awkward clash with big names within tennis over its decision to ban Russian players from this year’s tournament.
The extent of the disagreement became clear yesterday when Rafael nadal, Andy murray and novak djokovic — who have won 10 of the last 13 men’s singles titles — weighed in on the issue splitting tennis.
While nadal came out strongly against barring Russians and belarusians, even murray stopped short of endorsing the All england Club’s position.
The Scot was, however, more circumspect and recognised the complexity of the situation, stating: ‘i don’t think there’s a right answer.’
Murray also criticised the UK Government’s guidance on the matter and its demand that players sign anti-invasion pledges.
The ATP and WTA tours are trying to work out their responses to Wimbledon and other british tournaments barring players from nations prosecuting the war in Ukraine.
Djokovic reiterated his stance against the measure, but believes any action will stop short of stripping SW19 of ranking points, thus making it effectively an exhibition event.
Nadal, who has been lying low while recovering from injury, had a stronger reaction than might have been expected.
‘I think it’s very unfair on my Russian colleagues,’ he said. ‘in the sense it’s not their fault what’s happening with the war. i’m sorry for them. i wish it was not this way.’
He is clearly not impressed with the insistence of british tennis that Whitehall left them with little realistic option in circumstances the All england Club described as ‘exceptional’.
‘The Government gave a recommendation and Wimbledon just took their decision, the most drastic position they could take without taking into account that the Government didn’t force them to do it,’ added the Spaniard.
All three champions are members of the All england Club through winning their titles. murray has clearly been thinking hard about the whole matter and was slightly emotional when sharing his thoughts.
‘My take is it’s an unbelievably complex situation,’ he said. ‘i have spoken to some Russian players and some of the Ukrainians. i feel really bad for the players who aren’t allowed to play and i get that it will seem unfair to them.
‘But i also know some of the people who work at Wimbledon as well and i know how difficult a situation they were in. Some of the stuff i haven’t agreed with is that, “oh, well, Wimbledon only cares about itself, it doesn’t care about the players”.
‘It does care about the players and i don’t think that is a fair criticism. i think the guidance from the Government was not helpful because my understanding was that Russians and belarusians can play if they sign a declaration that they’re against the war and against the Russian regime.
‘I’m not sure how comfortable i would feel if that was a decision that was taken because if something happened to one of the players or their families, that’s obviously not good either.
‘Why Wimbledon or tennis or sports are in this situation, it’s because there is a war going on in Ukraine and people getting murdered and raped. That’s the bigger picture. none of this would be happening and Wimbledon and the players would not be in this situation if that wasn’t happening.
‘So it’s a really, really difficult one. i feel for Wimbledon, i feel for the players and i feel for everyone affected by it in Ukraine. i find it difficult to talk about. i’m not supportive of players getting banned.’
Djokovic is unequivocally on the players’ side and suggested there will be some form of ranking points alterations at the grass events.
‘I stand by my position that i don’t support the decision. i think it’s just not fair, it’s not right.
‘Now i guess it’s on the player council, the tour management, to decide along with the players what is the best solution, whether they keep the points, protect the points, take away 50 per cent or whatever.’