Russian tennis ace Andrey Rublev defends athletes in view of UK government's statements

Russian tennis player Andrey Rublev made headlines during the Dubai Tennis Championships last month, for writing ‘No war please’ on a camera lens after winning the semi-finals of the tournament. The World No. 7 went on to win the tournament, while the world coped with Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine.

He then featured in the BNP Paribas Open at the Indian Wells and lost the semi-final to Taylor Fritz on Sunday. However, he spoke about the Russia-Ukraine war after his quarter-final win over Grigor Dimitrov and said that Russian tennis players should be allowed to compete in tournaments as sports and politics shouldn’t be mixed.

As reported by Euro Sport, speaking to the reporters, the 24-year-old Rublev agreed with Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) chief Steve Simon’s thoughts that players should not be banned because of politics. "Talking about the British government, it's like I said, I think we should show a great example that tennis should be outside of politics. Not tennis, but in general sport. We're athletes. We want to compete. We were sacrificing so many things," Rublev said, referring to the comments made by the United Kingdom’s government’s Sport, Tourism, and Heritage Minister, Nigel Huddleston.

UK government's stance

Huddleston earlier suggested that he will seek assurance from Russian players like Daniil Medvedev and others that they do not support Russian President Vladimir Putin's regime. He also added that the UK government is in talks with the All-England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC) regarding their stance on the participation of the players in the Wimbledon Championships 2022, which begins on June 27. Russia’s sports community has faced heavy sanctions as a repercussion of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

"In the end looks like still it's not happening," says Andrey Rublev

Meanwhile, explaining the same to reporters, Rublev also added that players are not able to see their families, while many athletes have already changed homes due to the condition of sports.

Mentioning that players are sacrificing a lot for just being able to compete, Rublev said they just want to do their job.

"I think sport should be outside of politics because everyone say this, but in the end looks like still it's not happening. That's why I hope that in sport they will show there is no politics and we will be a good example to have a huge step forward,” he added.

(Image: AP)