British primary Cameron Norrie needs Russian gamers like Daniil Medvedev and Andrey Rublev again taking part in at Wimbledon subsequent yr after a “tough year” being banned from the Grand Slam.
“For me, I want the best players in the world to be playing,” 14th-ranked Norrie advised reporters on the Mubadala World Tennis Championship in Abu Dhabi on Saturday.
“I felt last year was tough for those guys, especially for Daniil and for Andrey, who have a chance of winning Wimbledon; especially I know how much those guys sacrificed with their careers and their goals are obviously very high to be winning Slams.
“So I really did feel bad for those guys.”
Russian and Belarusian gamers have been banned from the third Grand Slam of the yr in response to the invasion of Ukraine with the match stripped of rating factors in consequence.
Norrie, 27, loved his greatest ever end result at a Grand Slam with a semi-final run at Wimbledon however didn’t obtain any rating factors for his efforts.
“For me I’m just going to focus on my stuff and keep trying to improve,” he continued.
“This year I had a great run there and hopefully looking to do that again and hopefully looking to get some points there next year.”
Several Russian gamers have spoken out in opposition to their nation’s invasion of Ukraine, together with Rublev, who has known as for peace on a number of events.
However, the world quantity eight is pessimistic concerning the ban being lifted at Wimbledon subsequent yr.
“If they ban us for the second year, we will see no changes and will be worst for tennis,” Rublev mentioned in a latest interview with claytenis.com.
“It doesn’t help the situation. We want to show that tennis can be bigger than politics.
“The government of England probably proved that for them it’s all about politics. They are showing that politics is more important than peace.”