The French Open has no immediate plans to ban Daniil Medvedev from this year’s tournament, despite Wimbledon being ready to exclude him over fears a Russian triumph could boost the Vladimir Putin regime.
The French Tennis Federation (FFT) – which could be spared a Medvedev victory at the year’s next grand slam after he underwent hernia surgery that will see him miss the start of the clay-court season – confirmed it was still adhering to last month’s ruling by all four majors that Russian and Belarussian players would be required to be “neutral” to enter Roland Garros.
The United States Tennis Association (USTA) did not respond to requests for comment on whether that remained the case for the US Open.
The potential for Wimbledon to be the only grand slam to deny Medvedev entry emerged after the All England Club was advised its independent status meant it could exert a ban on Russian and Belarussian players failing to denounce Putin’s invasion of Ukraine and not face any legal repercussions.
It also set tennis’s biggest event apart from the main tours, which have stayed largely neutral over fears they could be taken to court.
Recent images of war crimes in the suburbs of Kyiv have only added weight to the words of Nigel Huddleston, the sports minister, who is adamant that Putin must not be allowed to make political capital from the exploits of Russian athletes in Britain.
Tuesday also saw the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) announce that the Football Union of Russia (FUR) had withdrawn its appeal against Russia’s ban from this year’s World Cup.
The FUR last month failed in a bid to stay the ruling by Fifa pending that appeal against a decision which saw the country thrown out of last month’s play-off semi-finals.
They had been due to play Poland, who were handed a bye and went on to beat Sweden to qualify for Qatar 2022.
Meanwhile, CAS confirmed Russia had also filed appeals seeking annulment of its bans from international gymnastics, rugby, rowing, and skating.
