Russian tennis players risk missing Wimbledon due to visa problems, only 15% of players received a document – Medvedev’s agent

Russian tennis players are experiencing problems in obtaining British visas to play at Wimbledon, only 15% of the players were able to complete the document, said agent Lev Kassil, representing the interests of Daniil Medvedev.

Wimbledon will take place from 3 to 16 July 2023. Earlier, Karen Khachanov told reporters that he had received a British visa in advance to participate in the tournament, and 16-year-old Mirra Andreeva, whose agent is Kassil, faced the problem of issuing a document.

– Last year, not only Wimbledon, but all tournaments in England, decided that Russians and Belarusians were not allowed into the country. If we are talking about the attitude of the public to such a decision, it was negative. Wimbledon has become an exhibition tournament, this is a precedent. The unilateral decision was met that way. Before this decision, the federations said that they would not support this decision, the athletes also said so, for example, Novak Djokovic. The British made the decision anyway and got a backlash. Tennis players played there just for money. The tournament was won by Elena Rybakina from Kazakhstan, who was born in Moscow and started at Spartak.

After this decision of the British, we had a fear that someone else would make such a decision. But other countries were afraid that after such a reaction from society, they would also be deprived of the status of the tournament. The only concern is that now the athletes will not receive visas. Approximately 15 percent of our tennis players have already received visas, the rest are not yet and remain in limbo. All procedures have been followed. When applying, you can use the express procedure, they took the money, but then they said that they could not help in any way, since such a service is not available to Russians and Belarusians. It’s not about the money, it’s just that the players are under psychological pressure. I hope that visas will still be given, but most likely, this will be done at the last moment, ”the Match TV website quotes Kassil as saying.

In March, the organizers of Wimbledon decided to allow Russian and Belarusian tennis players in a neutral status. The admission condition is the fulfillment of a number of conditions, including the signing of a special declaration. Players are prohibited from expressing support for the CBO, as well as having companies run or controlled by the state among sponsors.