"War will not affect Medvedev" - says Patrick Mouratoglou

The war between Russia and Ukraine has affected every sphere of modern life including sports but Mouratoglou thinks Medvedev will be fine.

Tennis has been no different to any other sports in today's time and it too was affected by the War between Ukraine nad Russia. The ITF reacted by banning Russia and Belarus from both men's and women's team competitions. That means that Russia won't be able to defend the titles won in both the Billie Jean King Cup and Davis Cup last year.

Russian athletes are also forced to play as neutrals not being able to display their flag during match play. Many Ukrainian tennis players have spoken about the war with some Russian players taking a stance as well. Medvedev was one of them but Mouratoglou thinks he won't be affected by the war:

"I don't think Daniil will be influenced in tennis by the fact that there is a war between Russia and Ukraine. From a personal or emotional point of view he could be, but I don't think it will affect his level of play."

The French coach is also against banning players from competitions which some have called for:

"The real risk is that the ITF, the ATP, the WTA decide to suspend Russian players from playing tennis, which I would find really, really unfair. Especially for the players who have clearly expressed the fact that they are 100% against the war. So why should they be condemned for what their country, I mean, is not even their country, the president of their country has decided to do, which has nothing to do with them."