Wimbledon decision is 'not logical', says Rublev

LONDON • The implications of Wimbledon's unilateral decision to bar Russian and Belarusian tennis players from this year's grass-court Grand Slam have continued to reverberate around the sport.

The event is the first tournament to exclude players from both countries following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February, but Wednesday's announcement has not gone down well as it goes against the ATP and WTA Tour's stance to allow them to play as neutrals.

Russian world No. 8 Andrey Rublev on Thursday was the latest player to voice his disapproval, blasting the ban as "complete discrimination" and "illogical".

"The reasons they (Wimbledon) gave us had no sense, they were not logical," said Rublev, the second seed at the Serbia Open who won his quarter-final against Japan's Taro Daniel 6-3, 6-3 yesterday. "What is happening now is complete discrimination against us."

Belarus tennis officials also said on Thursday that the Wimbledon ban on players from their country, a key Kremlin ally, as well as Russia, will only "incite hatred and intolerance" and they will explore legal action to have the sanction overturned.

"The Belarusian Tennis Federation categorically condemns the decision taken by the organisers of Wimbledon to suspend Belarusian and Russian tennis players," a statement read. "Such destructive actions in no way contribute to the resolution of conflicts, but only incite hatred and intolerance on a national basis."

Before the ban, the British government reportedly wanted Russian and Belarusian players to sign statements condemning the war as a precondition for permission to play at Wimbledon - a proposal that showed "incompetence and ignorance".

"Illegal decisions of international tennis organisations in relation to our athletes undermine, first of all, the reputation of these organisations, and the inconsistency of statements and actions between them only confirm incompetence and unilateral decision-making," the statement added.

Meanwhile at the Barcelona Open, Greek top seed Stefanos Tsitsipas yesterday beat Bulgaria's Grigor Dimitrov 6-1, 6-4 to advance to the quarter-finals.

Norwegian second seed Casper Ruud, finalist at the Miami Open earlier this month, also progressed after beating Finn Emil Ruusuvuori 6-2, 6-2.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, REUTERS

S-finals: Singtel Ch127 & StarHub Ch211, 7.30pm