Russian chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov was not impressed with Novak Djokovic defending Russian players following the WImbledon decision to impose player bans on Russian and Belarusian players. Djokovic, a 21-time Grand Slam champion, said he felt banning Russian players from competing at Wimbledon was “unfair.”
Djokovic suggested Russian players were not responsible for the actions of their country and he didn’t think that they deserved to be stripped of a chance to compete at the most prestigious tennis tournament. Also, Djokovic noted players enter tournaments via their rankings and not via their nationality.
“Djokovic’s comments were out of place because he was talking about the invitation based on the ranking,” Kasparov told Croatian newspaper Vecernji List. “What we see in this case, as well as in the example of some players from the NHL, like (Alex) Ovechkin -.
they just don’t understand what’s going on. And there is a crime that has not been seen since the Second World War. I don’t want to minimize the crimes in the Balkan wars, but the magnitude of it is such that it is not comparable to what is happening in Ukraine.
And that was very tragic. Russian aggression deserved to be repelled in the harshest way.”
Kasparov unimpressed with Djokovic defending Russian players
In 2013, Kasparov left Russia over the fears out of fears of persecution.
The following year, Kasparov obtained a Croatian citizenship. Kasparov, who is now the chairman of the Human Right Foundation, says he is not calling for a complete ban of Russian players. However, he would Russian players to sign some kind of anti-Vladimir Putin forms before they are allowed to compete.
“My position is that I am not against a total ban. I think the right approach to solving that problem is to ask them to sign the declaration I mentioned. To confirm that war is a crime, that the regime is illegal, that Putin’s regime is a dictatorship.
If they sign that paper, they can perform. If not, you shouldn’t. I think everyone deserves to be given the opportunity to choose,” Kasparov added.
