By: EFE Updated 12 May 2022, 12: pm EDT
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 president, Vladimir Putin, will be subject to sanctions.
“We are on the line 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”, said Mauresmo in an interview on France Inter radio.
He stressed that “the principle of neutrality” will be imposed in the tournament, without anthems nor the flag of Russia or Belarus.
The former tennis player, from 42 years, 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. The Wimbledon tournament in London, one 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 young Murcian tennis player from 19 years that he 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 of Miami and Madrid and the ATP 500 of Rio de Janeiro and Barcelona-, said this Tuesday that he has won “the respect of the circuit”, who has done so “based on results against great players” and added that he will go to Roland Garros “at 100% and ready to win”.
“Roland Garros is special for 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 arrive in full condition at Roland Garros, in 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, will be overflowing with fans to racket sports.
Read also:
Canelo is no longer the 1: Saúl Álvarez fell to third place in the DAZN ranking of the best pound for pound in the world after losing to Dmitry Bivol
Chicharito, Canelo Álvarez’s squire: “Second defeat and now people want to crucify him”
A legend retires: Giorgi o Chiellini announced that he will stop being a Juventus player after the end of the season