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Aryna Sabalenka has said she is "just really disappointed" about how politics and sports mix as she reflected on Wimbledon's ban on Russian and Belarusian players last summer.
The world No. 5 was one of a number of high-profile players, including ATP Tour stars Daniil Medvedev and Andrey Rublev, who had to miss out on the Grand Slam due to the strong ruling from the All England Club following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
While the organisers were later fined by both the ATP and WTA with the tournament stripped of its ranking points, Sabalenka questioned the point of the intervention from Wimbledon as she said it "changed nothing" and left the players affected completely helpless.
The 24-year-old from Minsk, Belarus also made the point that "no one supports the war" and expressed her hope that she would be able to play at Wimbledon in 2023 because she "really missed the people" and the atmosphere at SW19, among other things.
"I'm just really disappointed sport is somehow in politics," Sabalenka told Australian newspaper The Age ahead of the Australian Open.
"We're just athletes playing their sport. That's it. We're not about politics. If all of us could do something [about the war], we would do it, but we have zero control.
"They banned us from Wimbledon, and what did it change? Nothing - they're [the Russian government] still doing this, and this is the sad [part] of this situation.
“This is really terrible because no one supports war – no one. The problem is that we have to speak loud about that ... but why should we scream about that in every corner? It’s not going to help at all. We have zero control over this situation."
The world No. 5 was one of a number of high-profile players, including ATP Tour stars Daniil Medvedev and Andrey Rublev, who had to miss out on the Grand Slam due to the strong ruling from the All England Club following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
While the organisers were later fined by both the ATP and WTA with the tournament stripped of its ranking points, Sabalenka questioned the point of the intervention from Wimbledon as she said it "changed nothing" and left the players affected completely helpless.
The 24-year-old from Minsk, Belarus also made the point that "no one supports the war" and expressed her hope that she would be able to play at Wimbledon in 2023 because she "really missed the people" and the atmosphere at SW19, among other things.
"I'm just really disappointed sport is somehow in politics," Sabalenka told Australian newspaper The Age ahead of the Australian Open.
"We're just athletes playing their sport. That's it. We're not about politics. If all of us could do something [about the war], we would do it, but we have zero control.
"They banned us from Wimbledon, and what did it change? Nothing - they're [the Russian government] still doing this, and this is the sad [part] of this situation.
“This is really terrible because no one supports war – no one. The problem is that we have to speak loud about that ... but why should we scream about that in every corner? It’s not going to help at all. We have zero control over this situation."