Rublev about Wimbledon suspension: ‘This hits the spot’ | Tennis

He said that after his win against Jiri Lehecka at the ATP tournament in Belgrade.

“The reasons they cited for this decision made no sense. It’s all so illogical. What is happening now is totally discriminatory to us,” said Rublev. Earlier, WTA, ATP and Serbian number 1 in the world Novak Djokovic already announced that they did not agree with the decision of the Wimbledon organizers.

Banning Russian or Belarusian players will not change the war in Ukraine. They’d better give all the prize money to humanitarian aid, to the families who are having a hard time, to the children who are suffering. I think at least that will trigger something.”

Rublev’s compatriot Daria Kasatkina, on the other hand, put the Wimbledon exclusion into perspective earlier in the day. “There are worse things happening in the world right now,” she said at the WTA tournament in Stuttgart on Thursday. “People’s lives remain the most important, even though I don’t immediately see how this decision could have an impact on the situation. It goes without saying that the tennis players are disappointed because they cannot participate in Wimbledon.”

Principle

On Wednesday, tennis associations ATP and WTA already claimed that Wimbledon is guilty of discrimination based on nationality. “A fundamental principle of the WTA is that tennis players can participate in tournaments based on their performance, without any form of discrimination. Individual athletes should not be punished or hindered because of their origin or as a result of decisions by the government of their country,” the WTA said.

Wimbledon starts on Monday 27 June.