No. 1 Tennis Player Daniil Medvedev May Be Banned From Wimbledon If He Refuses to Disavow Putin

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The No. 1 tennis player in the world, Daniil Medvedev, may be banned from competing in Wimbledon this year if he doesn’t denounce Russian president Vladimir Putin, according to reports out of British Parliament this week.

The discussions were outlined by Sports Minister Nigel Huddleston as actions are being put in place to prevent Putin’s supporters from entering the historic grounds. Russian teams have already been barred from the Davis and Billie Jean King Cup but Huddleston wants a more unified approach globally.

“It needs to go beyond that,” Huddleston said. “We need some potential assurance that they are not supporters of Vladimir Putin and we are considering what requirements we may need to try and get some assurances along those lines. It would be better if we can decide some broad global consensus on this.”

Russian and Belarusian players have already been prevented from wearing their country’s flags while the Ukrainian invasion continues as the ATP currently houses four Russian-born players in the top 30.

Additionally, numerous Russian athletes have already denounced the Russian’s advance into Ukraine or called for peace, including WTA No. 3 singles player Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and ATP No. 7 Andrey Rublev.

The ban may include a demand of personal political statement but at this time remains unclear.

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