Rafael Nadal Criticised The Ban On Russian Participation In Wimbledon. They Are Not Responsible For What Is Happening In Ukraine.

Spanish tennis player Rafael Nadal criticised the decision of the organisers of the most prestigious and oldest grand slam tournament Wimbledon, who decided to ban Belarusian and Russian tennis players due to the invasion of Ukraine. According to him, this is very unfair, Eurosport informs.

On the one hand, Nadal understands the position of the All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC), which organises Wimbledon, but according to him, they chose the most drastic measure. "It puts my Russian colleagues at a disadvantage. They are not responsible for what is currently happening in Ukraine. I feel sorry for them," he said before the Madrid Open.

"We will see what the coming weeks bring and whether we will come together as players. This is not right," he added, adding that he did not think anything would change at the end of the day. "After all, it doesn't matter what happens during the game, when we see so many people suffering and dying," the tennis player concluded.

Russia and Belarus have 14 players in the top 100  world rankings. "The exclusion of both countries from the Davis Cup and the Billie Jean King Cup is something I understand. But to punish individuals, I see no reason for that," said the world number three player with Russian roots Alexander Zverev.

In addition to him, the Russian tennis player Andrei Rublev, also criticized this decision. At the beginning of the invasion during the final at the tournament in Dubai, he publicly expressed his opinion on the war with the inscription "No war please", which he wrote directly on the camera with a marker. The leadership of the Women's Tennis Association WTA, the Men's ATP Circuit and the PTPA Association, led by Novak Djoković, have also joined in, and defended the tennis players.

As a result of the Wimbledon ban, tennis players such as Daniil Medvedev, Andrej Rublev, Aryna Sabalenkova and Victoria Azarenkova will miss the grand slam tournament this year.