‘They have done nothing wrong’ – Stefanos Tsitsipas disagrees with Wimbledon ban
World number five Stefanos Tsitsipas has weighed in on the controversial Wimbledon ban on Russian and Belarusian players, stating “it’s not nice.”
Last month Wimbledon announced that Russian and Belarusian players were to be banned from this year’s tournament due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The ban means that the four Russian men in the top 30 in the ATP rankings and six Russian and Belarusian players in the top 32 of the WTA rankings, who would have been seeds at Wimbledon, are unable to compete.
The ban has been widely condemned by many key stakeholders in tennis including current players, coaches and even tennis’ governing bodies.
World number one Novak Djokovic branded the announcement as “crazy”, with 18-time Grand Slam champion Martina Navratilova labelling the ban as the “wrong decision”.
Both the ATP and WTA have expressed their disappointment in Wimbledon’s decision, with the ATP slamming the sanction as ‘discrimination’ and the WTA promising ‘a strong reaction’.
Furthermore, the ATP and WTA also have met to discuss how they are going to respond – with the possibility of Wimbledon becoming an ‘exhibition event’.
Now Stefanos Tsitsipas has given his thoughts on Wimbledon’s decision to ban Russian and Belarusian players, believing that the two countries’ athletes “have done nothing wrong.”
The Greek number one told reporters, “It’s not nice that they’re not allowed to play. They have done nothing wrong to be automatically defaulted from the competition.”
Stefanos Tsitsipas was speaking ahead of this weeks Madrid Masters and he has had his say on that too, and he says conditions at La Caja Magica make for a very unique clay court experience.
The 23-year-old said, “It’s different clay court tennis, it’s doesn’t really feel much of a clay court tournament because you’re dealing mostly with the altitude than the clay itself so that’s the ultimate challenge that you have to overcome.”
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