The Albany Gazette - Medvedev rules out legal action over Wimbledon ban

Players from the two nations have been banned from taking part in the season's third Grand Slam event which starts next month following the invasion of Ukraine.

However, they are allowed to keep playing at other tournaments including the French Open which gets underway in Paris on Sunday.

"If I can't play, I'm not going to go to court for this one," 26-year-old world number two Medvedev said Friday.

"I don't know what ATP is going to do, I'm waiting for their decision. But yeah, me personally, I won't go to court."

He added: "Maybe it's the government pushing them (Wimbledon), maybe it's their decision. There are a lot of mistakes behind this."

The ATP, which runs the men's tennis tour, is understood to be close to making a ruling on the Wimbledon controversy.

Both the ATP and WTA could decide to strip the high-profile tournament of ranking points in response to the ban.

"I love Wimbledon as a tournament. I honestly tend to think I like playing on grass, though I didn't have amazing results so far, but I managed to win one tournament," added Medvedev.

"But if I cannot play, I'm going try to play next year's and try to play good there."

Despite the ban, Medvedev, who lost in the last 16 at Wimbledon in 2021, still plans to play grass court events this summer at s-Hertogenbosch, Halle, and Mallorca where he is the defending champion.

His first priority, however, is the French Open where he made the quarter-finals last year after four successive first-round exits.

Being placed in the bottom half of the draw means he has avoided defending champion Novak Djokovic, 13-time winner Rafael Nadal and new teenage star Carlos Alcaraz who are all in the top half.

"Novak, Rafa, Roland Garros, it's crazy how they play here. Carlos has been playing amazing lately. Miami, Madrid, Barcelona. Let's see how he copes up with the pressure," said Medvedev.

"If he manages to reproduce the same tennis, he's going to be one of the favourites for sure. It's good to have them on the other side of the draw."

Medvedev, the runner-up to Nadal at the Australian Open in January, has played just one clay-court match this year after undergoing hernia surgery.

Despite losing to French veteran Richard Gasquet in Geneva earlier this week, he is looking forward to this year's Roland Garros where full crowds will return for the first time since 2019.

"I love the French Open. Last year, even though we didn't have much of a crowd we had some atmosphere and I loved it."

(A.Lehmann--BBZ)