Casper Ruud has welcomed the decision of Wimbledon to lift the ban on Russian and Belarusian players after last year's edition.
When the Wimbledon ban happened last year, the majority of tennis players took a stance against it. Some were more vocal about it with others taking a pragmatic approach of calling the situation unfortunate. Very few publicly backed it but this year we've seen more players speak on it.
Iga Swiatek just recently came forward with her opinion that players from those countries could have been banned altogether from the sport citing previous examples in history. Ruud however likes the decision to lift the ban explaining that nobody can choose where they're born and shouldn't face consequences simply because of that.
It's not their fault where they were born. As a colleague and opponent, you regretted that they couldn't play last year. It's one of the biggest and most historic tournaments we have, so it's kind of fair and nice that they can play again.
In the talk with Eurosport, Ruud particularly singled out Andrey Rublev who has gone out of his way to denounce the war, far more vocally than any other player from the country. He's happy about him being able to play at Wimbledon adding that you can't ask much more from guys like him.
I mean, you can't ask much more from these guys.
Ruud is right because even this year's participation will include some steps that those players will need to undertake in order to play. They will be required to denounce the war and respective governments in writing and to sever all ties to any financial backing which is quite an ask considering the circumstances. Still, it seems like most players will oblige as Medvedev already spoke about being happy that he can return to London.
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