Nadal and Murray question Wimbledon’s Russian ban

Nadal, Murray and Djokovic all expressed regret that competitors from Russia and Belarus will be unable to enter the championships this summer.

Nadal and Murray question Wimbledon’s Russian ban
Murray-Nadal

Wimbledon organisers are struggling to find outright backing for their ban of Russian players after three of the sport’s biggest names stopped short of offering their support.

Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic all expressed regret that competitors from Russia and Belarus will be unable to enter the championships this summer.

Ian Hewitt, the chairman of the All England Club, said last week that there is no “viable alternative” while the invasion of Ukraine is ongoing.

“I think it’s very unfair [on] my Russian tennis mates, my colleagues,” Nadal, the 21-times grand slam champion from Spain, said. “It’s not their fault what’s happening with the war.”

Murray, who is a full member of the All England Club after winning Wimbledon in 2013 and 2016, said that he was “not supportive of players getting banned” but acknowledged that it was an “unbelievably complex situation”.

“I don’t think there’s a right answer,” he added. “I feel really bad for the players who aren’t allowed to play and I get that it will seem unfair to them. I’m friendly and close with some of them and I feel bad for them. But I also know some of the people who work at Wimbledon and I know how difficult a position they were in. Not a lot has been discussed about why this is happening and [people are] forgetting about the reasons for why Wimbledon, tennis and sports are in this situation. It’s because there is a war in Ukraine.”

Murray also believes that the UK government-backed Wimbledon into a corner by issuing informal guidance that suggested Russians could compete if they signed a written declaration stating that they do not support the invasion. This was widely regarded as unfeasible because of the potential safety risks to family members back home.

“I think that guidance was not helpful,” Murray said. “I’m not sure how comfortable I would feel if that decision was taken because if something happened to one of the players or their families, that’s not good either.”

Djokovic stood by his comments of ten days ago, in which he described the ban as “crazy”. However, the world No 1 feels it is unlikely that the ATP and WTA tours will remove ranking points from Wimbledon in retaliation. “Everything is possible,” he said. “But the more realistic option is to protect the points of the Russian and Belarusian players who are not playing.”