Bantang iba-ban sa Wimbledon, hindi pinansin ni Medvedev

Ipinagkibit-balikat lamang ng Russian tennis superstar na si Daniil Medvedev, ang posibilidad na pagbawalan siyang maglaro sa Wimbledon ngayong taon matapos kuwestyunin ng gobyerno ng Britanya ang status ng Russian players sa torneo.

Sinabi ng British sports minister na si Nigel Huddleston sa isang parliamentary hearing noong nakaraang linggo, na maaaring hingin ng gobyerno kay Medvedev na magbigay siya ng mga katiyakan na hindi niya sinusuportahan ang Pangulo ng Russia na si Vladimir Putin bago payagang makipagkumpetensya sa Wimbledon.

Ang hakbang ay ginawa sa gitna ng lumalawak na “sporting isolation” sa Russia kaugnay ng pagsalakay nito sa Ukraine.

Bagama’t pinayagang makapaglaro sa ATP at WTA tournaments ang Russian players, sinabi ni Huddleston na hindi siya magiging komportableng makakita ng isang atletang nagwawagayway ng bandila para sa Russia, at idinagdag na tinalakay na niya ang isyu sa All England Club.

Sa pagsasalita sa sidelines ng Miami Open nitong Huwebes (Biyernes sa Maynila), nag-aatubili si Medvedev na pag-usapan ang isyu, sa pagsasabing sasabak siya sa season “tournament by tournament.”

Aniya . . . “Don’t have any response to Wimbledon. I will need to see what happens next. I try to take it tournament by tournament. I mean, there are always different rules, regulations in order to play or not to play. Right now I’m here in Miami. I can play and I’m happy to play tennis, the sport I love. I want to promote the sport all over the world. We’ll have tough moments and good moments. That’s going to be the same with every tournament. So the next one after this one is Monte-Carlo, you know, where at this moment I’m a resident there, so I love this tournament also. I can play it normally and I’m happy to play it.”

Una nang binanggit ni Medvedev ang hangad na “kapayapaan,” subali’t walang sinabi tungkol sa giyera sa Ukraine.

Ayon kay Medvedev . . . “I think everybody knows what’s happening, so it’s basically of course impossible to ignore it. I always said I’m for peace. I want everybody to be safe, healthy, myself included, other people included, everybody in the world. Sometimes it’s not possible, but, yeah, that’s what I want.”

Samantala, sinabi nito na tatanggapin niya ang anumang sanction na ipapataw sa Russian players, at handa sa kung anoman ang mangyari.

Paliwanag niya . . . “Every country can set their own rules. Maybe tomorrow somebody’s gonna announce, I don’t know, that we don’t want any more tennis tournaments. Say one country has a Grand Slam, and maybe some other Masters events are gonna say ‘We don’t want any more tennis in our country.’ That’s how life is. It’s very tough in life to talk about what is fair and not fair. So I of course do have my own opinions on different topics, but I prefer to speak about them with my family, with my wife, where we can sometimes disagree but we can discuss. It’s much easier when you have a dialogue about this.”