Wimbledon could have some potential allies with the Italian Open reportedly considering banning Russian and Belarusian stars from competing.
The Russian and Belarusian tennis players have been banned from competing at the All England Club this year due to President Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. However, the move has been met with widespread criticism, with Novak Djokovic among the most vocal against the move.
But according to Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera , the government in Rome are considering whether to enforce similar sanctions at their event next month. Valentina Vezzali, an Italian politician, stated that Italy will tackle the situation "alongside Ukrainian athletes", in line with the IOC and with the international federations.
But 1976 French Open winner Adriano Panatta strongly disagrees with Wimbledon’s decision and hopes his own country does not follow suit. “The exclusion of the Russians at Wimbledon? I find it a b***h ... Medvedev and Rublev have already disagreed with what their country is doing,” he said.
Furthermore, Sportsmail have reported that Andy Murray is prepared to defend Wimbledon's position on the matter when he next attends an open press conference. Tennis’ most prestigious tournament received backlash for their decision this week, including two of the sport's greatest players.
Djokovic slammed the call while Martina Navratilova said she was reduced to tears. "I will always condemn war, I will never support war being myself a child of war," the Serbian world No 1 said.
"I know how much emotional trauma it leaves. In Serbia we all know what happened in 1999. In the Balkans we have had many wars in recent history. However, I cannot support the decision of Wimbledon, I think it is crazy. When politics interferes with sport, the result is not good."
"The Russian and Belarusian players, some have even expressed, vocalised, their opposition to the war,” Navratilova told LBC. "The only option therefore now for them to play would be to leave their country. That's something that I had to do in 1975, because of a totalitarian regime and now we are asking them to do the same, because of politics, because of optics.
"I understand the banning of teams, of course, representing the countries, but on an individual level, I just think it's wrong." The ATP and WTA have labelled the call as “unfair” while Russian star Andrey Rublev has branded the decision "complete discrimination." The exiled players could have their rankings preserved with the ATP board due to meet at the Madrid Open next week to discuss how exiled players should be compensated.
The major tennis tours are considering a ranking compensation scheme that would see players rewarded partially for their past performances. However, another alternative is that Wimbledon and other UK events are simply stripped of ranking points altogether - according to the Sportsmail .
