Murray expects Russians to play at Wimbledon

Andy Murray expressed his belief that Wimbeldon will allow Russian and Belarusian player to compete in this years edition.

The most glamarous event in the tenis world infamously imposed a ban last year for all Russian and Belarusian players to participate in the tournament in the light of the country’s invasion of Ukraine.

That meant famous names such as Daniil Medvedev, Victoria Azarenka and Andrey Rublev were among the players to miss out on the tournament, won by Novak Djokovic (men’s singles) and Elena Rybakina (women’s singles).

He has previously stated that he was “not supportive” of last year’s ban.

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The British star expressed similar sentiments with an announcement about this year’s championships approaching.

“It’s a really difficult one and I do feel for the players who weren’t able to play last year – but I also understand the situation and why it’s really hard for Wimbledon to make a call on it as well,” Murray told BBC Sport.

“My understanding is that they are going to be allowed to play and I’m not going to be going nuts if that is the case.

“But if Wimbledon went down another route I would be understanding of that.”

As a result of its decision last year, Wimbledon was stripped of ranking points and the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) was fined £1,4m by the ATP and WTA  for excluding players from the preceding tour events.