Andrey Rublev shared a pessimistic view of the likelihood that Wimbledon chiefs would change their position of unanimously agreeing to ban all Russian and Belarusian players from the tournament.
Last month, the All England Club confirmed that it would forbid Russian and Belarusian tennis players from competing at this year's championships in the wake of the invasion by Russia in Ukraine.
In its statement, Wimbledon noted that "it would be unacceptable for the Russian regime to derive any benefits" from their players competing in the tournament. Therefore, the decision was rubberstamped to bar them and Belarusians (Belarus is considered an ally of Russia in the current war in Ukraine).
Although All England Club chairman Ian Hewitt has left the door open for them to revisit their decision should things change dramatically between now and the tournament starting, Rublev is not hopeful about it.
The 24-year-old finished his Madrid Open campaign with a loss to Stefanos Tsitsipas in the quarterfinal, and he will continue his season in Rome next week. He spoke to reporters after the match to share his thoughts.
"I don’t give myself hope. First of all, I think if they announce already one decision, I don’t think that they will step back. If they will step back it will be really, really nice, and it would be a really nice move from them."
"I made already a statement why it makes no sense and I think if we are playing, we can be much more useful to help than if we’re going to be banned. I think there are still calls between ATP and Wimbledon and some stuff like that, so we’ll see how the story ends. But how I understand that most likely - yeah I’m not giving too much hope."
The comments come after the ATP and WTA held meetings in Madrid this week to determine the next course of action. The two governing bodies condemned the decision, and it is possible they will penalize the tournament by stripping off points.
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