Novak Djokovic: Banning Russian Players from Wimbledon ‘Crazy’

The world’s top-ranked male tennis player, Novak Djokovic, condemned Wimbledon organizers on Thursday for banning Russian and Belarussian players from participating in the tournament, calling the move “crazy.”

Wimbledon is one of the four most prestigious tennis tournaments in the world. The All England Club, which hosts the tournament, announced this week that it would ban citizens of Russia and Ukraine from playing in the tournament, allegedly in solidarity with Ukraine.

Russia has been aiding proxies fighting the Ukrainian military in the eastern Donbas region for eight years, a fact that did not prompt any similar action from Wimbledon. It escalated those hostilities into full-scale war with Ukraine in February, boasting support from neighboring Belarus.

“It is our responsibility to play our part in the widespread efforts … to limit Russia’s global influence through the strongest means possible,” the All England Club said in a post on Twitter on Wednesday. “In the circumstances of such unjustified and unprecedented military aggression, it would be unacceptable for the Russian regime to derive any benefits from the involvement of Russian or Belarusian players with The Championships.”

Djokovic addressed the ban in remarks to reporters at the Serbia Open, where he is currently playing, on Wednesday.

“I will always condemn war, I will never support war being myself a child of war,” Djokovic said. “I know how much emotional trauma it leaves. In Serbia, we all know what happened in 1999. In the Balkans, we have had many wars in recent history. However, I cannot support the decision of Wimbledon, I think it is crazy.”

“When politics interferes with sport, the result is not good,” Djokovic concluded.

Djokovic referred to the NATO bombings of Yugoslavia in the late 1990s, which he endured as a child in Belgrade at the time. NATO chose to attack the former Yugoslavia, then under dictator Slobodan Milosevic, to pressure Milosevic to end a campaign against Kosovo.

Evidence that Milosevic had directed widespread ethnic cleansing crimes against non-Serbs in the Balkans had been mounting for the better part of the prior decade. NATO also faced heavy criticism since the campaign for bombing populated areas and jeopardizing the lives of civilians like Djokovic and his family.

Djokovic’s opposition to banning Russian athletes from Wimbledon is particularly notable given that he would likely personally benefit from such a decision. While Djokovic retains the top Association of Tennis Players (ATP) ranking, the second-place player is Russian Daniil Medvedev. Medvedev’s one Grand Slam title, a U.S. Open championship, was a victory against Djokovic, and Medvedev took the top ATP ranking in January after the Australian government prevented Djokovic from participating in the Australian Open.

The Wimbledon ban would also keep Djokovic from having to play against Russian player Andrey Rublev, who wields the number eight ranking – a particularly bizarre measure given Rublev has publicly condemned the war in Ukraine.

Djokovic himself is not guaranteed to be playing at Wimbledon due to his coronavirus vaccination status, which prompted the Australia debacle in January. Djokovic, who at the time had chosen to keep his vaccination status private, had received paperwork from Tennis Australia, the organization that holds the Australian Open, that he was told would allow him to enter the country without proof of vaccination. When he arrived, immigration officials abruptly arrested him and tossed him into a migrant detention center with little explanation. After a prolonged legal battle in which he was told at least one other time the government would allow him to play – and he practiced on an Australian Open court – immigration officials deported him because they feared that he may inspire others to consider not ingesting a coronavirus vaccine product.

“What people probably don’t know is that I was not deported from Australia on the basis that I was not vaccinated, or I broke any rules or that I made an error in my visa declaration,” Djokovic explained in an interview in February. “The reason why I was deported from Australia was because the Minister for Immigration used his discretion to cancel my visa based on his perception that I might create some anti-vax sentiment in the country or in the city, which I completely disagree with.”

Djokovic said in that interview that he is “willing to pay” the price of not being allowed to participate in tournaments like Wimbledon to defend “the freedom to choose what you put into your body.”

During the Australian Open controversy, Medvedev did not categorically defend Djokovic, claiming he did not know enough about the situation.

“For me, it’s tough to say. If he had a fair exemption from the rule, well, he should be here; if he didn’t, he shouldn’t be here,” Medvedev said. “To be honest, it sounds easy, but again, it seems very tough in real life, and I don’t know the insides of the story.”

While playing in the tournament, however, Medvedev appeared to tease organizers after winning a particularly difficult match and proclaiming he won because, “I asked myself: what would Novak do?” The crowd booed the reference to the Serbian player.

The harshest critic among the players of Djokovic’s decision not to receive a coronavirus vaccination was the biggest beneficiary of his expulsion from Australia: Rafael Nadal, who won the tournament.

“In a way, I feel sorry for him. But at the same time, he knew perfectly the conditions for many months. He made his own decision,” Nadal said in January, in contrast to Djokovic’s handling of Medvedev’s ouster at Wimbledon. “If you do that, if you get vaccinated, you can be here. You can play in the Australian Open and wherever. The world has suffered enough to not follow the rules.”