The news about the admission to Wimbledon is good, but the Russians should not sign anything, says Chesnokov

The semi-finalist of Roland Garros in 1989 and the winner of two tournaments of the Masters series Andrei Chesnokov believes that the Russians should not sign additional agreements for the sake of admission to Wimbledon.

According to Tennis Majors, Russian and Belarusian tennis players will be able to play at Wimbledon in 2023 if they sign a declaration of neutrality. They will also be prohibited from expressing any support for Russia or their government and from receiving funding from Russia.

– The news about admission to Wimbledon is good, but there is one “but”. The organizers want to sign something. I believe that everything that can be signed has already been signed. Everything is written in the ATP and WTA rules, including the rules of the match, the behavior of the player and even the interview: what the player can say and what not. Players no longer have to sign anything at all.

Now they will require you to sign one document, then another. This epic started last year. Before each season, agreements are already signed between the ATP and tournaments – everything is done in advance. Now all these declarations are no longer quite timely. Everything is signed. For me, everything is simple: you either allow players who have not said anything negative in a political sense for a year and a half, or not. This “but” is a completely different story,” Chesnokov told the “Championship”.

On Friday, the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club (AELTC) announced the admission of Russian and Belarusian tennis players to participate in Wimbledon 2023 in neutral status, subject to several conditions.

Russian and Belarusian tennis players were suspended from the Wimbledon tournament in 2022 due to the events in Ukraine. For this, the organizers of the competition were fined one million dollars, and the WTA and ATP stripped the tournament of rating points.

Wimbledon 2023 will take place from 3 to 16 July.