Rafael Nadal spoke to Christiane Amanpour and CNN following his Roland Garros triumph and he defended his Russian colleagues with Wimbledon looming.
Russian and Belarussian tennis players won't be able to compete at Wimbledon due to the ban on them in response to the Ukraine situation. Nadal was asked about the Wimbledon ban and he defended his Russian and Belarussian colleagues confessing that they are against what is happening in Ukraine. He explained:
“I have my colleagues on the tour that I know very well that they can’t say much honestly."
Amanpour singled out Daniil Medvedev as the most prominent of those banned and Nadal responded:
“Exactly. But they for sure don’t have nothing to do with the war and they can’t do anything and they [are] not in favour of that.”
It's not the first time that Russian players have been associated with disagreeing with the decision as both Rublev and Medvedev took stances against what is happening. Rublev is more prominently so than Medvedev. Other players that are banned like Kuznetsova and Azarenka also opposed the actions while others largely remained silent.
Daria Kasatkina, a player who is having a breakout season this year expressed understanding of the ban saying that there are more important things than tennis.
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