Picture Credit: Twitter
Thanks to Wimbledon's decision to ban Russian and Belarussian players from this year's event, Daniil Medvedev has a lot of free time on his hands. The world's No. 1 men's singles player hails from Russia and hence is not part of this year's Championships due to the authorities’ decision.
The All England Lawn Tennis Club, which is the supervising body of the Wimbledon, had addressed that the ban is to "limit Russia's global influence through the strongest means possible". Hence Daniil Medvedev and Belarusian female world number six Aryna Sabalenka are the top players affected by the ban.
However, Daniil Medvedev refused to stay off the grass as he recently posted a bunch of pictures of playing golf with former German international football player Bastian Schweinsteiger. The caption with the photos said, "Can't leave grass Fun day with @bastianschweinsteiger."
Wimbledon organisers had released a statement in April announcing the players from Russia and Belarus would be banned from this year's tournament because of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Wimbledon put forth two reasons why the tournament implemented the ban.
The first reason was player safety as athletes are required to submit individual letters denouncing the Russian government to participate by UK law which could affect the safety of the player and the tournament. While the second reason was the idea of not promoting Russian propaganda by having players from that country succeed in the tournament.
We hugely regret the impact it has on the individual players involved: Bolton
Wimbledon chief executive Sally Bolton before the start of the first day addressed the decision while speaking to the BBC. She said, “We thought it was a disproportionate decision in the context of the situation we found ourselves in and in the context of the global situation. It was an incredibly difficult and complex decision to make at the time.”
“We spent a long time thinking about it and in making that decision. It was complicated but we stand by it. It was the right decision to make for the Championships. It’s still the right decision to make for the Championships. We hugely regret the impact it has on the individual players involved. But it remains the right decision for us this year.”