Amelie Mauresmo, former world number one and director of Roland Garros, warned this Thursday that if a tennis player participating in the Parisian tournament praises the Russian presidentVladimir Putin, will be subject to sanctions.
“We are in line with what was decided by the EU Sports Ministers. We will not host teams, but individual athletes (Russian or Belarusian). Obviously, if an athlete appears before the pro-Putin press there will be sanctions,” Mauresmo said in an interview on France Inter radio.
He stressed that “the principle of neutrality” will be imposed in the tournament, without anthems or flags of Russia or Belarus.
The former tennis player, 42, assumed that “there is no fair decision” on a subject as thorny as the war in Ukraine.
Ukrainian tennis players like Elina Svitolina have complained about the participation of Russian colleagues. Wimbledon tournament in Londonone of the big four in tennis, has excluded the Russians and Belarusians due to the invasion of Ukraine.
Candidates at Roland Garros
Carlos Alcaraz, the 19-year-old tennis player from Murcia who is sixth in the ATP ranking and second of the year and that he has already won four titles in 2022 -the Masters 1,000 in Miami and Madrid and the ATP 500 in Rio de Janeiro and Barcelona-, he said this Tuesday that he has earned “the respect of the circuit”, which he has done “Based on results against great players” and added that he will go to Roland Garros “100% and prepared to win.”
“Roland Garros is special to me because it was the first Grand Slam I reached the third round. People are going to take me as a favorite but I take that as motivation and not as pressure. I want to show my level in this Grand Slam”, said Alcaraz.
The great figures of this tournament, Djokovic, Tsitsipas and Nadal himself, were full of praise for the young man from Murcia, who will skip the tournament to reach Roland Garros in full condition, at their respective press conferences.
Rome warms up its engines to receive the great figures of the circuit, who will appear little by little on an Italian clay court that two years later, it will be overflowing with racket sport fans.
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