The Wimbledon Championship, one of the world’s four most prestigious tennis tournaments, kicked off Monday without the world’s best male player disqualified for being Russian.
Wimbledon’s governing body, the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, announced in April that it would ban players of Russian nationality from the tournament in protest of the Russian government’s expanded entry into Ukraine. Russia first invaded Ukraine in 2014, occupied the Crimean peninsula, and reportedly supported ethnic Russian separatist groups in eastern Donbas. Wimbledon officials have not changed tournament policy in any way since the first eight years of the war, but have responded to an increase in February when Russian forces invaded more western parts of Ukraine, including the capital.
Contrary to its policy in Russia, Wimbledon is allowing 11 Chinese players to participate this year, although international human rights experts agree that Beijing is currently involved in genocide, operates more than 1,000 concentration camps for non-Han ethnic groups, and is actively harassed. . Former Wimbledon champion Peng Shuai accused a Chinese government official of raping her last year.
This file’s photo combination shows Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai (left) during the women’s singles first round match at the Australian Open in Melbourne on January 16, 2017; and Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli (right) at St. On a visit to Russia in St. Petersburg. Petersburg International Investment Forum, Petersburg 18 June 2015. (PAUL CROC, ALEXANDER ZEMLYANICHENKO/AFP, via Getty Images)
Tennis Professionals Association (ATP) men’s number one Daniil Medvedev and number eight player Andrey Rublev are the two main Russian players missing from the tournament. Rublev’s ban seems particularly logically complex, given the government’s overt opposition to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in the face of heavy crackdown on domestic dissidents.
Number eight player Andrei Rublev (Martin Dokoupil/Getty Images)
Wimbledon is the second Grand Slam of the four most prestigious tennis tournaments this year, starting without the world’s best male player. There was no #1 at the Australian Open in January. 1 Novak Djokovic, after the Australian government sent him to an immigration detention center and deported him for not receiving a dose of Chinese coronavirus vaccine candidates – after the government admitted it had given Djokovic legal clearance. entry visa.
Due to Medvedev’s disqualification, Djokovic entered Wimbledon as the tournament’s first series, followed by Rafael Nadal, who won this year’s Australian and French Opens. Nadal, who won the most Grand Slams in men’s tennis history after failing to face Djokovic at the Australian Open, is widely accepted as a favorite at Wimbledon, which he won twice.
Novak Djokovic (AFP John DONGAN)
Wimbledon officials first hinted that Medvedev, Russia’s best player in the world, must publicly announce Vladimir Putin in order to qualify for the tournament. Britain’s sports secretary Nigel Huddleston said at a hearing in March that the government is considering intervention to keep Russian or Belarusian players away from England-Belarus, a close ally of Moscow as long as they don’t condemn Putin. Ultimately, the government did not have to intervene, as the tournament organizers completely banned Russian and Belarusian players.
Medvedev spoke briefly about the ongoing war in Ukraine. In May, he generally described the situation as “very painful” and lamented the possibility that he would not be able to play at Wimbledon as a result.
“This decision is 100 percent and I don’t know if it’s over. … If I could, I would be happy to play at Wimbledon. I love this tournament, ”Medvedev said at the time.
Rublev strongly condemned the actions of his government. Playing at the Dubai Championships in February, Rublev, after winning the quarter-finals, decided to write “No to war, please” into the camera lens instead of the lens as in many tournaments.
“At such times you realize that my fight is not important. It is not about my fight, it is about how it affects me,” Rublev said about the war. “It is getting worse.”
Rublev described the ban on participation on the grounds of citizenship as “total discrimination”.
“Suspension of Russian or Belarusian players will not change anything,” Rublev said, arguing that Wimbledon should instead give the tournament money as humanitarian aid to Ukraine.
The tournament did not follow Rublev’s advice, but gave Ukrainian refugees 1000 free tickets for tennis matches.
Wimbledon’s decision proved unpopular with other male tennis players. Faced with only one type of grand slam ban in Australia, Djokovic described the expulsion of players by nationality as “crazy” when organizers announced the decision in April.
“I will always condemn war, as a child of war I will never support war,” Djokovic told reporters at the time, referring to his childhood in post-war Serbia. “I know how much emotional trauma he left behind. We all know what happened in Serbia in 1999. There have been many wars in the Balkans in recent history. But I can’t support Wimbledon’s decision, I think it’s insane.”
When politics intervene [sic] the result in sports is not very good, ”says Djokovic.
Nadal, who was in a high position to criticize Djokovic during the Australian Open debate, also opposed the Wimbledon ban on Russian and Belarusian players.
“They are not responsible for what happened at war today,” Nadal said in May. “I pity them. Wimbledon has just made a decision. … The government did not force them to do so.”
Source: Breitbart
