Rublev, after defeating Jiri Lehecka to advance to the quarterfinals of the Serbia Open in Belgrade on Thursday, instructed reporters in a post-match press convention that he and different gamers had a name with Wimbledon organizers on Wednesday in an try to discover a resolution.
“To be sincere, the explanations that they offer, there isn’t any that means, there isn’t any logic for what they suggest,” Rublev mentioned.
Rublev, who wrote “No struggle please” on a digicam throughout a match just a few days after Russia invaded Ukraine in late February, mentioned it was proposed to Wimbledon to have “at the very least an opportunity to decide on if we wish to play or we do not wish to play.”
“And if there’s a assertion that we have to signal and on prime of that to offer all of the prize cash to humanitarian assist, to the households who’re struggling, to the children who are suffering,” he continued, “I feel that transfer at the very least will do one thing, at the very least a bit. And it’ll present that the England authorities is standing for the peace and so they actually wish to assist.”
Rublev wrapped up his assertion Thursday to reporters the way in which he opened it: reaffirming his apolitical standing.
“On the finish of the day, we wish to compete,” Rublev mentioned. “We’re not right here to speak about politics as a result of I don’t know, something about this. On the finish of the day, I’m Russian, and I used to be born in Russia and I’ve lived all my life in Russia, and I simply wish to present that we’re good folks.”
The All-England Garden Tennis Membership’s (AETLC) resolution to ban Russian and Belarusian gamers impacts a number of high-profile gamers. In addition to Rublev, who’s ranked No. 8 in males’s singles, his compatriots No. 2 Daniil Medvedev, No. 26 Karen Khachanov and No. 30 Aslan Karatsev are presently barred from competing.
On the ladies’s facet, Belarus’ No. 4 Aryna Sabalenka and No. 18 Victoria Azarenka in addition to Russia’s No. 15 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, No. 26 Daria Kasatkina and No. 29 Veronika Kudermetova are affected.
The AELTC justified its resolution as a way to “restrict Russia’s world affect by the strongest means potential,” following Moscow’s invasion and ongoing struggle in Ukraine.
Each the ATP and WTA Excursions have criticized the choice, although the AELTC mentioned it could “take into account and reply accordingly” if circumstances change between now and June.
