Tennis superstar Novak Djokovic has criticized the ban on Russian and Belarusian tennis professionals at the Grand Slam tournament in Wimbledon.
"I will always be against war, I am a child of war myself," said the Serb at the ATP tournament in Belgrade: "But I am against the decision of the Wimbledon organizers.
I think that's crazy."
The players have "nothing to do with the war," said the 34-year-old: "If politics mixes with sport, there is no good result."
"A breach of our agreement with Wimbledon"
On Wednesday, the Wimbledon organizers announced that Russian and Belarusian athletes would not be allowed to take part in the most important Grand Slam tournament of the year - in response to the war of aggression in Ukraine.
"We are aware that this is a tough decision for the individual athletes affected," said Wimbledon boss Ian Hewitt: "It is sad that they have to suffer from the actions of the leaders of the Russian regime."
The two-week tournament begins on June 27th.
The player associations ATP and WTA rated the decision similar to Djokovic.
The war should be condemned “strongly”, but tennis professionals from the affected countries should not be excluded across the board.
"Discrimination on the basis of nationality is a breach of our agreement with Wimbledon that players' participation is based solely on the ATP rankings," the players' association said.
The WTA argued similarly.
At the French Open in Paris in May, professionals from Russia and Belarus must be strictly neutral in order to participate in the second Grand Slam tournament of the season.