The ban has been dropped for players from Russia and Belarus, the former n. 1 and the Australian Open champion are back in London
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dchinellato
– LONDON
The idea is to play tennis in the most important slam. The rest can also stay out. “I am for peace,” says Daniil Medvedev, seeded number 3 in the men’s draw. “I don’t want to talk about politics and I ask you to respect my decision,” says Aryna Sabalenka, number 2 in the women’s tournament. It would be easier if the flags of Russia and Belarus weren’t absent from all official Wimbledon communications, including the biography of the two in the press room, if the two countries weren’t excluded from the endless list of nations represented at the Church Road tournament. It would be easier if the two could have been there on the London grass last year, and hadn’t been forced to watch the tournament from home due to the All England Club’s ban on tennis players from Russia and Belarus in response to the invasion of Ukraine .
ONE YEAR AGO
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Sabalenka, now part of the Big Three aiming to take the women’s tournament, well remembers the disappointment of not being able to play on London grass last year. “I haven’t even watched Wimbledon on TV – says the 25-year-old from Minsk, this year’s queen of the Australian Open -. Every time I changed the channel I happened to play a game I started crying. It was hard. I was at home and took a little vacation, trying to train anyway, but I really didn’t get to see Wimbledon because it was too difficult.” Medvedev, the 27-year-old Russian from Moscow who never went beyond the 4th round on the grass of Church Road, is much more detached. “I missed him – he says -. I was disappointed I couldn’t be there, but I followed the rules and as always tried to find the positive side of things. I spent time with my family and took a vacation. Skipping last year doesn’t give me extra motivation, the fact that Wimbledon is my worst slam in terms of results does.”
TODAY
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They won’t have their own flags, but this year Sabalenka and Medvedev are the two symbols of the contingent of athletes from Russia and Belarus readmitted to Wimbledon as neutrals. The two don’t feel like symbols of a political battle that isn’t theirs, but tennis players with ambitions to get noticed in the slam that they both dream of winning. “I know Wimbledon has a strong stance on the war in Ukraine, but I’m only here to play tennis in a tournament I love. And I’m happy to be able to do it – explains the Russian -. I don’t know how the fans will react, I’ll see when I’m on the pitch, but my hope is to show good tennis and stay here as long as possible.” “I have no idea how the fans will react – adds Sabalenka, who reached the semifinals in her last Wimbledon appearance in 2021 -. I try not to think about anything else but tennis, I always tell myself that the best thing I can do is focus on the things I can control.”
CHANCE
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Like trying to go all the way, which for Sabalenka means competing with the other two stars, the Polish Iga Swiatek, who won at Roland Garros, and the Kazakh Elena Rybakina, queen at Wimbledon a year ago. “It’s great to be one of the top three players and I hope to continue to do well,” said Sabalenka. I think we are still the favorites here, but for me it’s about playing my best tennis. I know that if I just focus on that I can do really well at Wimbledon too.” Medvedev, on the other hand, will have the Djokovic monument in front of him, which he considers the best in the world but which he beat in the US Open final in 2021, preventing him from the Grand Slam. “Having stopped him makes me even more proud of what I did, especially considering the level at which Nole continued to play after that match – says the Russian -. I’m happy to have won the US Open, but I want to continue playing against Nole in the finals. Or against anyone else. Also because I haven’t been able to do it for a long time”. If she succeeds, no messages, no positions, no rematches. “I am for peace”.
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