Kyrgios: Banning Russians no good for tennis

Nick Kyrgios heads into Monday’s Wimbledon start disillusioned by the tournament ban on Russian players.

The controversial move in the wake of the invasion of Ukraine also serves as a safety for British royals, whose Duchess of Cambridge Kate would have to present a potential trophy to a possible Russian winner.

By way of retaliation, the ATP and WTA stripped the Grand Slam of its ranking point, turning it into something of a high-class exhibition with a massive GBP 40 million total prize packet.

Kyrgios said he hardly thinks the ban is good for the sport given that world No. 1 Daniil Medvedev is a Monte Carlo-based Russian who has spent much of his life in the south of France.

“I don’t think it was a good idea to ban the Russian players, Medvedev is the best we have in our sport right now,” the Australian said.

“You look at some of their other players – (Andrey) Rublev, (Karen) Khachanov – they’re important young players for our sport to continue to grow.”

The No. 45 who returned to the Tour for the grass season after skipping clay and competed for three straight weeks – two semi-final places in Germany – added: 

“Whenever we have cameras on and a lot of people tuning in, you want our best players to be on showcase for the sport to grow.

“As a competitor and someone that wants to go up against them, I’m disappointed they’re not here.

“It’s weird not seeing Medvedev here. We all know what he’s capable of.

But look, it’s done now. I’m sure that they’re (Russian players) going to be tuning in and watching, wishing they were here.

“They just want to be a part of it. I’m disappointed they’re not here.”

Bill Scott

Recent Posts

Nadal goes down in final match

Rafael Nadal lined up for what was to be the final match of his career…

3 days ago

Sinner flattens de Minaur in runaway home start

Jannik Sinner took charge in front of his home crowd on Sunday, crushing ATP Finals…

2 weeks ago

Madcap Medvedev suffers temperamental Turin Finals loss

Daniil Medvedev went into meltdown mode on Sunday during a highly charged 6-4, 6-3 loss, with opponent…

2 weeks ago

Team Sinner considering skipping Monte Carlo

Jannik Sinner could well be missing from the opening European clay event of next season…

2 weeks ago

Davis Cup Final to mark Nadal goodbye to tennis

Rafael Nadal will bring down the curtain on his career next month as he plays his…

1 month ago

Wimbledon lowers the boom on human linecalling

Wimbledon on Wednesday brought an end to human linecalling at the most traditional of the…

1 month ago