Australian tennis great Todd Woodbridge says the tennis world shouldn’t be too quick to slap down Russian players on tour.
His comments come in the wake of news that recent world No.1 Daniil Medvedev may be barred from competing at the Wimbledon major unless he publicly denounces Vladimir Putin.
Putin is waging war on Ukraine, and world sport has roundly condemned the conflict and thrown its support behind the smaller nation in a number of ways.
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During the week, a British politican announced Russian players – including Medvedev, who briefly stole the men’s No.1 ranking from Novak Djokovic this month – would not be allowed at Wimbledon unless they denounced Putin.
“That is such slippery and dangerous ground,” Woodbridge told Nine’s Sports Sunday.
“We all know they have families back in whatever part of Russia they are from, and you do not want to be on the wrong side of that, because your family will pay a price.
“This is really dangerous territory, and one that we have to be very sensitive about.”
Woodbridge pointed out while every player on tour was linked to a country – normally their country of birth – they didn’t necessarily represent that nation.
“It’s an individual sport. I feel at this point we allow them to play,” he said.
“(Fellow Russian player) Andre Rublev this week made it through to a semi final. It’s really hard if we go down that line.
“Teams are different, that is national representation. Individuals are different.
“A lot of them don’t live in that country… as an example, for 11 years of my career I lived in the United States.
“I feel it has to be let’s see what happens over the coming months, and then we’ll be able to make a better decision.”
Medvedev last month called for peace after Russia invaded Ukraine.