'What's happening': Daniil Medvedev in limbo over shock Russian ban
World No.2 Daniil Medvedev has admitted he has accepted his exclusion from Wimbledon due to the All England Club's ban for Russian athletes, but still remains in the dark regarding ongoing discussions.
In a new twist, the ATP has announced that ranking points won't be removed from grass court events Queen's and Eastbourne despite the All England Club and Lawn Tennis Association placing a ban on all Russian and Belarusian athletes from the grass court season.
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Wimbledon will still have its ATP ranking points removed for the meantime.
Rafa Nadal, who sits on the ATP player council, appears to be in favour of the ATP's move and addressed the situation at the Italian Open last Wednesday.
The ATP released a statement that read: “LTA’s decision to ban Russian and Belarusian athletes is however contrary to ATP rules and undermines the ability for players of any nationality to enter tournaments based on merit, without discrimination – a fundamental principle of the ATP Tour."
Some of the big names that will be forced to sit out Wimbledon are Russians World No.2 Medvedev and Andrey Rublev, while Belarusian WTA World No.2 Aryna Sabalenka will also be banned.
And Medvedev, returning from an injury, has now revealed he feels weird about the situation.
"I tried to follow what's happening because I don't have any decisions to make. It's right now about Wimbledon itself, the ATP, maybe the British government is involved," Medvedev said, ahead of his return in Geneva from a six-week layoff.
"It's a tricky situation and like every situation in life, you ask 100 players, everybody's going to give a different opinion."
Daniil Medvedev doesn't know if Wimbledon ban is set
The Russian said he would be keen and ready to play at Wimbledon if offered the chance, but is still unaware if there is a chance the ban could be overturned.
"I don't know if this decision is 100% and it's over (for me)," he added.
"If I can play, I'm going to be happy to play in Wimbledon. I love this tournament. If I cannot play — well, I'm going to try to play other tournaments and prepare well for next year if I have the chance to play."
Novak Djokovic and Nadal are two of the leading players that have expressed their shock that Russian and Belarusian players won't be able to compete at Wimbledon.
A number of the world's top male tennis players have reportedly taken umbrage with Rafa Nadal's stance on Wimbledon's ban on Russian and Belarusian players after it emerged that the ATP is planning to strip rankings points from the grass-court event in June.
The 21-time grand slam champion, who previously said it was "unfair" that players from Russia and Belarus won't be allowed to play, refused to disclose details of “private conversations” with the 10-person player council.
“At the end, that’s our job: to protect the players and to work [to] the benefit of every single player that we are representing.”
While Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray have expressed similar sentiments, the Telegraph in the UK reports that their views are not shared by the entire ATP cohort.
On Saturday, British player Liam Broady led calls for a vote on the idea of Wimbledon being stripped of ranking points.
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