Nick Kyrgios, who is set to open his Wimbledon 2022 campaign against British youngster Paul Jubb, on Sunday slammed the All England authorities for banning Russian and Belarusian players. Top stars, including ATP No 1 Daniil Medvedev and Aryna Sabalenka, have been excluded from the tournament this year following the invasion of Ukraine. 

The WTA and ATP, governing bodies for men’s and women’s tennis respectively, have hit back at Wimbledon by removing all ranking points from the Grand Slam. 

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Reigning Wimbledon champion Novak Djokovic has already voiced against the ban. The Serb, who will play South Korea’s Kwon Soon-woo on Monday, had said that he could relate to the Russian and Belarusian players. Serbian players were banned from international competition during the 1990s. 

World No 45 Kyrgios said, “My honest opinion, I don’t think it was a good idea to ban the Russian players to play. I think Medvedev is the best we have in our sport right now. You look at some of their other players – Rublev, Khachanov – they’re important young players for our sport to continue to grow. I think whenever we have cameras on and a lot of people tuning in, you want our best players to be on showcase for the sport to grow. Me personally as a competitor and someone that wants to go up against them, I’m disappointed they’re not here. It’s weird not seeing Medvedev here. We all know what he’s capable of.”

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Medvedev had reached the round of 16 in the Wimbledon last year. The 26-year-old from Russia  has won 13 ATP Tour singles titles, including the 2021 US Open and 2020 ATP Finals.

“But look, it’s done now. I’m sure that they’re going to be tuning in and watching, wishing they were here. They wanted to play. They just want to be a part of it. I’m disappointed they’re not here. But as for the ranking points, I don’t really know. I just think it’s strange. I don’t know. I don’t particularly play in tournaments for ranking points. You’re probably not asking the right person,” Nick Kyrgios added.