John McEnroe ridicules Wimbledon by saying they made a MISTAKE by unnecessarily banning Russian and Belarusians as the players return this year

John McEnroe calls out Wimbledon on keeping out Russian and Belarussian players out of the tournament.

John McEnroe ridicules Wimbledon by saying they made a MISTAKE by unnecessarily banning Russian and Belarusians as the players return this year

John McEnroe (Image via Deadline)

Everyone knows the not-so-loving relationship between John McEnroe and the organization of Wimbledon and the American’s recent interview shows he was not at all happy with Wimbledon’s decision not to allow Russians and Belarussians compete in the tournament over the conflict of the war. 

The former three-time Wimbledon champion and a consultant for Eurosport shared his thoughts about this controversial decision which prompted ATP and WTA to not award points to the players and said he thinks it was definitely a mistake.

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John McEnroe said ‘’I immediately thought that the tournament made a mistake last year by denying access to Russian and Belarusian players. It’s obviously a very complex question for obvious reasons, but we happen to be in a sport where some of our best players are Russian. Moreover, it would seem that most of them, if not all, have absolutely nothing to do with it’’

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Also Read: “Taste like sh*t,” Wimbledon Chief Gardner discloses how Novak Djokovic must feel after strange grass-eating ritual

What happened at Wimbledon last year and what were the reactions?

wimbledon logo
Wimbledon logo (Image via Wimbledon)

There are a lot of controversies and debates about the war in the sports field, especially in the tennis world. The most controversial one was how Wimbledon decided to ban Russian players from competing in the prestigious slam. This decision drew a lot of flak as well as some interesting reactions from players.

Current world No 2 and Russian player Aryna Sabalenka said that she felt so bad when she heard about this decision that she cried when Wimbledon was on TV and how it was too painful to see it. When asked what she was doing she said ‘’Yeah, I was at home having a little vacation, then practicing. But, no, I didn’t watch Wimbledon a lot. I felt so bad and I just couldn’t watch it. Every time Wimbledon would be on TV, I would cry, so..’

Meanwhile, the LTA (Lawn Tennis Association) was fined a whopping amount of 1 million dollars by the ATP for its ban on the Russian and Belarussian and was also threatened by the ATP with expulsion by them if the same decision would be repeated this year at the Slam.

Russian and Belarusian were banned from playing Queen’s Club, Eastbourne, Surbiton, Nottingham, and Ilkley. The WTA also fined LTA with $750,000 to the LTA and $250,000 to the AELTC (All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club) 

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