Tennis legend Rafael Nadal has slammed Wimbledon’s decision to ban all Russian and Belarusian players from their tournament, asserting, “It’s not their fault what’s happening in this moment.”
Last month, Wimbledon organizers confirmed that players from both countries would be barred from competing in the tournament even if they have vocally opposed the war in Ukraine.
The announcement means that top players like Daniil Medvedev and Andrey Rublev will not be able to compete at SW19 this year.
Players had initially been expected to be given an opportunity to perform an act of ideological subservience by denouncing Russia in order to be able to take part, but now even this won’t be enough.
All-time grand slam wins leader Rafael Nadal criticized the ban as being “very unfair” on his “Russian mates” and colleagues.
Rafael Nadal has criticised the decision of the All England Lawn Tennis Club to ban Russian and Belarusian players from this year's Wimbledon Championships, as a response to Russia's military invasion of Ukraine. pic.twitter.com/p7XPIgqTwP
— Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews) May 2, 2022
“Poor them…It’s not their fault what’s happening in this moment,” Nadal told reporters.
“In that sense, I feel very sorry for them,” he added, asserting that the organizers had taken a “drastic” position.
Nadal said blocking Russians and Belarusians from competing would also mess up the tennis ranking system.
“The 2,000 points, whenever we go to the grand slams, they are really important and we have to go to those tournaments. So we will have to see the measures that we take,” he said.
Nadal joins fellow generational talent Novak Djokovic in denouncing the measure, with the Serb calling the decision to ban Russians and Belarusians “crazy”.
As we highlighted last month, Ukrainian tennis star Elina Svitolina demanded that Russian and Belarusian players be subjected to ideological purity tests before they are allowed to compete in international tournaments.
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