a humble Medvedev reacts to Russian ban at Wimbledon

Danlil has been pretty quiet about the ban on Russian and Belarusian tennis players in the upcoming Wimbledon tournament but recently had some things to say to the press and he did so in a kind way without pointing the fingers at anyone in particular. I think most of the tennis world agrees that the ban on him and other players is unfair since they, the players, have nothing to do with the actions of their countries in Ukraine, which is the reasoning behind the ban.

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Danlil became one of my favorite players after his victory over Djokovic in Australia 2 years ago when he spoke in what has to be the most humble of victory speeches that I have ever heard spoken by any winner in the sport in history. He seemed almost to be apologizing to his opponent for "ruining" his chance at becoming the highest Grand Slam winner of all time even though he clearly deserved the victory. Since then I have watched his career with great interest because I enjoy his style of play in particular his lightning fast serving style.

Wimbledon decided not long ago that tennis players from Russia and Belarus would not be permitted to play in the upcoming tournament unless the signed a document denouncing the actions of their respective nations which was an absurd request to make of someone. Even if you are rich and famous, doing this could cause massive problems for the star themselves as well as their families and friends - I think this should be fairly obvious and nobody inside Wimbledon thought that any of the players would actually do it. Medvedev has not signed this document, has no intention of doing so, and he hasn't even publicly addressed the request.

Other players including top stars Djokovic and Nadal have been supporting of the Russian tennis star as well as others from the 2 banned nations. While they haven't directly said to "let him play!" they have said that this is unfair and suggested that the points earned during the events where all nations are not invited to play for whatever reason, shouldn't count towards global rankings.

While everyone is being very careful with the words that they choose, these guys avoided talking about the Russia ban but instead suggested that the ATP (one of tennis' governing bodies) should make the events that are excluding certain nations should have the point tally from the wins removed thereby not having an effect on the world rankings. In my mind this seemed like a fair compromise but apparently the ATP doesn't agree stating “This season’s ATP Tour events in Queen’s and Eastbourne will proceed as normal, offering full ATP rankings points.”

They did however acknowledge that by excluding certain nations' players that they were knowingly violating their own rules and expected to be fined for this action. There is also a chance that the global alliance of the various tennis ruling organizations could overrule this and negate the points earned during the tournaments.

Danlil Medvedev has kept his words out of discussion until recently and while doing so he didn't discuss the situation in Ukraine at all and referred to it only in generalities.

“This is a delicate situation because it sets a precedent and puts other sports competitions in an uncomfortable position. Where is the line? What are the rules that should lead to a possible exclusion? For having discussed it with the ATP, we are, us tennis players, considered in terms of law as independent workers.

“But currently in the United Kingdom, self-employed Russians have the right to work. So, if I have the opportunity to play at Wimbledon, I would be delighted. If not, I would accept it.”

I believe it was a terrible decision for Wimbledon to get involved in politics and try to invoke this ban in the first place and by doing so they are damaging the sport as a whole. It will affect the world rankings for many players and most notably Medvedev, who is one of the best players in the world and is in a position to become one of the GOATs.

For those that do win Wimbledon, the victory might be bittersweet because did they really win it when one of the top guys wasn't allowed to play?