Wimbledon: Daniil Medvedev says he will ‘respect’ decision made on Russia and Belarus players this year

Daniil Medvedev says he will “respect” whatever decision Wimbledon makes on the participation of Russian and Belarusian players at this summer’s Grand Slam.

The Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) received a £1.4m fine from the ATP and WTA, and no ranking points were awarded from the tournament.

A decision on whether to lift the ban this year is expected to be announced soon.

Medvedev said he would be “really happy” to compete at the Grand Slam this year, but will not look to influence the tournament organisers.

“I’m not going to make this decision for them or even help them make this decision,” he told reporters ahead of his Indian Wells opener against USA’s Brandon Nakashima on Friday.

“They have to make it by themselves for their different reasons like they did last year.

“And I always said I will respect this decision. I play where I can play… tennis is my job so I would be really happy to play Wimbledon.

“I absolutely love that tournament, but if it’s not meant to be, I’m going to wait for the opportunity to be back there.”

Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka said that the situation is “not under my control”.

“But then I realised that this is not under my control. I did nothing, nothing bad against Ukrainian people. This is just not my fault.”

He said: “My understanding is that they are going to be allowed to play and I’m not going to be going nuts if that is the case.

“But if Wimbledon went down another route I would be understanding of that.”

– – –