Australian tennis player John Millman wasn’t a fan of the “unilateral” decision Wimbledon made and he would like to know if the UK government pressured Wimbledon into banning Russian and Belarusian players. Last month, Wimbledon announced their decision to impose player bans on Russian and Belarusian players.
“Look, my old man’s flown over for it, Wimbledon’s hallowed ground, mate, a beautiful place. I love it,” Millman told AAP News. “But I don’t like how they went about making the decision. If the whispers are that it’s government guidance, get the government to come out and say it was them.
I’m getting older, there’s probably not going to be so many opportunities to play Wimbledon, so I think I’ll play but maybe I’ll get banned for saying this stuff. I mean, you can, right? That’s what I’ve had a problem with from the very start – unilateral decisions.”
Millman: Russian, Belarusian players weren’t given a chance
In late April, AELTC chairman Ian Hewitt explained the decision to ban Russian and Belarusian players by stating that they didn’t want to risk putting those player in a potential danger by requiring them to sign sime kind of anti-Vladimir Putin forms.
Millman thought Wimbledon acted on their own and he wasn’t a fan of that at all. Millman is an ATP council representative. “There was an opportunity to have the Russians (and) Belarusians play (at Wimbledon),” Millman noted.
“There were two options – recommendations, not even laws – given by the UK government. One, to sign a declaration, and be able to play; and the other one to ban them. Without really any consultation, a unilateral decision was made to ban players.
It just goes against what tennis is about. I have a problem with lack of communication. The player council, player reps on the ATP board, hadn’t been consulted until after the decision had been made. The Russian and Belarusian players weren’t even asked if they’d sign the declaration prior to this decision being made. We talk about their safety. They weren’t even asked if they could sign it.”
