Wimbledon announces end of Russian ban, right after Medvedev’s Indian Wells presser

Daniil Medvedev held his pre-tournament press conference at the BNP Paribas Open on Wednesday afternoon. At the time of it, there had not been any news regarding Wimbledon’s 2023 stance on Russian and Belarusian players.

Nonetheless, it was a still a topic of conversation during the interview.

“I’m not going to make this decision for them or even help them make this decision,” Medvedev said of the All-England Club, which banned Russians and Belarusians from the 2022 Championships in the wake of Russia’s war–supported by Belarus–against Ukraine. “They have to make it by themselves for their different reasons like they did last year.

“And I always said I will respect this decision. I play where I can play…tennis is my job so I would be really happy to play Wimbledon. I absolutely love that tournament, but if it’s not meant to be I’m going to wait for the opportunity to be back there.”

Just moments after leaving the press room, Medvedev and his compatriots found out that they will be back at the All-England Club this summer. Wimbledon announced that the ban on Russians and Belarusians will no longer be in effect. It did, however, add that anyone who shows any kind of support for Vladimir Putin will be kicked out of the tournament.

“I’ve said it so many times; I’m not going to say anything new,” Medvedev also said on Wednesday. “I’m for peace.”

Ricky contributes to 10sballs.com and also maintains his own tennis website, The Grandstand. You can follow him on Twitter at @Dimonator.