Daniil Medvedev remaining tight-lipped on fairness of potential Wimbledon ban
Daniil Medvedev took care when discussing the fairness of a potential Wimbledon ban and revealed he is taking things “tournament by tournament.”
With the war between Russia and Ukraine continuing to rage on, there have been calls to ban Russian and Belarusian players from both the ATP and WTA Tours.
As per International Tennis Federation (ITF) guidelines, Russian and Belarusian players have been forced to compete as ‘neutral athletes’ and the Russian and Belarussian national teams have been prohibited from competing in international tournaments.
One such measure that had been suggested by the United Kingdom’s Sports Minister Nigel Huddleston was that Russian players should “provide reassurances” over their condemnation of Russian President Vladimir Putin in order to be allowed to compete at Wimbledon.
A major player who would be affected by such bans is World number two and US Open champion Daniil Medvedev.
Speaking ahead of the Miami Open, Medvedev said “I try to take it tournament by tournament. I mean, there are always different rules, regulations in order to play or not to play.
“That’s, to be honest, all I have to say. That’s going to be the same with every tournament.
“So the next one after this one is Monte-Carlo, where this moment I’m a resident, so I love this tournament also.
“I don’t have any response to Wimbledon. I will need to see what happens next.
“Everybody knows what’s happening (with the war in Ukraine), so it’s basically of course impossible to ignore it, but I always said everybody has different opinions on different things in the world. I always said I’m for peace,” the Russian reiterated.
“It’s very tough in life to talk [about] what is fair and not fair. So I of course do have my own opinions on different topics, but I prefer to speak about them with my family, with my wife, where we can sometimes disagree but we can discuss.”
On a potential ban, Medvedev ultimately realised how little power players hold.
He said “I want to say [in] every country, that’s how life is, every country can set their own rules.
“Maybe tomorrow somebody’s going to announce ‘we don’t want anymore tennis tournaments.’ Some big country will, say one country [that] has a Grand Slam and maybe some other Masters events [are] going to say ‘we don’t want any more tennis in our country.’
“[If] the president’s going to say it, he has the right to do it. That’s how life is.”
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