Shamil Tarpishchev is one of the most important names in Russian tennis, as the RTF chief expressed his opinion on recent comments of Andrey Rublev.
After the All England Club decided to ban all Russian and Belarusian players from the 2022 Wimbledon, many players voiced their strong disagreement with this decision. One of them was even the reigning world no. 1, Novak Djokovic, who opposed the ban.
Another player that voiced his disagreement with the ban was the world no. 8, Andrey Rublev, who called the ban "complete discrimination." Instead of banning Russian and Belarusian players from the third Grand Slam tournament of the season, the Russian wanted to find a different solution to the problem.
Rublev suggested that the tournament might rather decide to donate all the prize money to help Ukraine rather than ban all the Russian and Belarusian players, which 'doesn't solve anything' according to the player.
He was also one of the first players to talk about the war, when he asked for "no war" after one of his matches at the Dubai Tennis Championships. However, it seems that home in Russia, Rublev's comments are not perceived well.
In a recent interview, the chief of the Russian Tennis Federation and three-time Davis Cup and four-time Fed Cup champion as a coach, Shamil Tarpishchev, opposed what Rublev was saying. Tarpischev called Rublev's claims "babbling," saying that he probably doesn't know himself what he's talking about.
"I don't get what he is babbling about humanitarian aid. I doubt he himself knows. The athlete said this. Ask him. Why make us two enemies? I don't understand what he proposed and to whom."
The words from the RTF chief seem to be quite aggressive, and it will be interesting to follow whether we see any response from Rublev, who remains strong in his stance.
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