Djokovic critical of Wimbledon's ban of Russian and Belarusian players: "I don't feel it's fair"

Novak Djokovic will begin his Wimbledon title defence tomorrow afternoon opening up Centre Court in a tournament which holds a lot of good memories for the Serbian but the narrative in London has had the undercurrent of the ban of Russian and Belarusian stars including World No.1 Daniil Medvedev and no ranking points available.

It is a point Djokovic touched upon during his pre tournament press conference admitting once more on the eve of playing Soonwoo Kwon that he doesn't agree to it and believes those involved should have been like they have been on tour all season in competing under a neutral banner.

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"What I can say is that as a child of a war, several wars actually during the Nineties, I know what it feels like being in the position," said Djokovic.

"But on the other hand, I can’t say I fully agree to ban Russian tennis players, Belarusian tennis players from competing indefinitely.

"I just don’t see how they have contributed to anything that is really happening.

"I mean, I don’t feel it’s fair. They would accept the compromise that they’ve actually had as a situation or circumstances with the Olympic Games to play under a neutral flag.

"They deserve to compete. They are professional athletes. None of them have supported any war or anything like that. It’s very sensitive.

"I understand both sides. It’s really hard to say what is right, what is wrong.

"But in my heart, as an athlete putting myself in a position where someone would ban me from playing because of these circumstances, and I have not contributed to that, I wouldn’t think that’s fair."

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Priorities

In terms of the ranking points debacle, it isn't an issue for Djokovic who said when you've achieved what he is, it isn't a massive problem. "It would probably affect players other than myself to be honest," he added.

"I don’t want to say that ranking points are not important for me - of course they are - but not as they were until recently.

"Now, I am not chasing the rankings as much as I had until I broke the record for the longest weeks at number one and then after that it wasn’t that important in terms of priority for me."