Wimbledon excludes tennis players from Russia and Belarus in connection with the war in Ukraine. The provision shakes the world of tennis and animates the debate also in Italy, a few weeks after the start of the Internazionali Bnl in Rome. “It is a political decision of the English that I find wrong and I hope that Rome will not do the same. Politics should never enter the sport. I find it unfair that it is the players who are not at fault who pay. At least I can understand the decision of exclude the Russian national team, not individual players “, former blue captain of the Davis Cup Nicola Pietrangeli told Adnkronos. Read also Could the red card shown by the Wimbledon organizers also be imitated by the Internationals of Italy? “The other day at the presentation of the Internazionali Bnl d’Italia there was the undersecretary for sport Valentina Vezzali, the president of Sport and Health Vito Cozzoli and the president of Fit Angelo Binaghi and the topic did not come up, I think Rome it will not exclude Russians and Belarusians, “says the two-time Roland Garros winner. “It seems to me a questionable decision. There is no doubt that the British have every right to use their own tournament as a sounding board to strongly express their dissent against the aggression, the horrible invasion of Russia against Russia. Ukraine. But what do the players have to do with it? Why penalize, punish athletes who have nothing to do with war. And some of them, among other things, have also publicly condemned “, Corrado Barazzutti told Adnkronos. Will Rome follow London? “It would be a decision of the government given that the ATP and the WTA have said they are against it and I hope it will not be taken because the athletes, unless explicitly expressed pro Putin or pro war, have no faults and cannot be condemned just because they were born in a Country in which the government has decided to make war on the world “, says. For Paolo Bertolucci” it is a decision that I find deeply unjust and I would be sorry if Rome followed it even if yesterday’s words from Malagò who spoke of a decision in line with the IOC make me think that the Internazionali d’Italia can also embrace the boycott line “. “I hear that Russian and Belarusian tennis players should make statements against Putin and against the government. It seems absurd to me to ask such a thing when maybe the player has a mother or a sister in Russia. I want to see who would have the courage to make certain. statements if he were in the conditions of these boys who, I repeat, have nothing to do with the war. They are just boys who play tennis “, concludes the former world number 12.