Wimbledon: Daniil Medvedev says he will 'respect' decision made on Russia and Belarus players this year

ByEurosport

Published 09/03/2023 at 08:40 GMT

Daniil Medvedev, Andrey Rublev, Aryna Sabalenka and Victoria Azarenka all missed Wimbledon last summer after a ban imposed by the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) on players from Russia and Belarus. However, with a decision expected soon on whether Russians and Belarusians can compete at the Grand Slam this year, Medvedev says he will respect whatever decision the organisers make.

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Daniil Medvedev says he will "respect" whatever decision Wimbledon makes on the participation of Russian and Belarusian players at this summer's Grand Slam.

Wimbledon was the only Grand Slam last year to refuse Russian and Belarusian players from competing.

The Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) received a £1.4m fine from the ATP and WTA, and no ranking points were awarded from the tournament.

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A decision on whether to lift the ban this year is expected to be announced soon.

Medvedev said he would be "really happy" to compete at the Grand Slam this year, but will not look to influence the tournament organisers.

"I'm not going to make this decision for them or even help them make this decision," he told reporters ahead of his Indian Wells opener against USA's Brandon Nakashima on Friday.

"They have to make it by themselves for their different reasons like they did last year.

"And I always said I will respect this decision. I play where I can play... tennis is my job so I would be really happy to play Wimbledon.

"I absolutely love that tournament, but if it's not meant to be, I'm going to wait for the opportunity to be back there."

Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka said that the situation is "not under my control".

"The reaction of people, some different things made me feel really bad - that this is my fault," the Belarusian said.

"But then I realised that this is not under my control. I did nothing, nothing bad against Ukrainian people. This is just not my fault."

Former British No. 1 Andy Murray believes Russian and Belarusian players will be allowed to play at Wimbledon this summer and has no problem if they are.

He said: "My understanding is that they are going to be allowed to play and I'm not going to be going nuts if that is the case.

"But if Wimbledon went down another route I would be understanding of that."

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