Amelie Mauresmo says players will face sanctions for pro-Vladimir Putin statements at French Open

ByJames Walker-Roberts

Published 12/05/2022 at 20:07 GMT

Russian and Belarusian players, including world No. 2 Daniil Medvedev, Andrey Rublev and Aryna Sabalenka, will be permitted to compete at the French Open later this month. However, they have been banned from Wimbledon following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and French Open tournament director Amelie Mauresmo has reflected on the challenges of the move.

French Open tournament director Amelie Mauresmo says there is “no fair decision” regarding allowing Russian and Belarusian players to compete at the tournament, but they will face “sanctions” if they support Vladimir Putin in public.

Wimbledon has decided to ban Russian and Belarusian players following the invasion of Ukraine.

However, the French Open is sticking with the ATP and WTA, which are allowing Russian and Belarusian players to compete as individuals and not under their national flags.

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The move from Wimbledon has been criticised by several players, including world No. 1 Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray, and there have been rumours that the major could lose its ranking points as a result.

Former world No. 1 Mauresmo says the situation is difficult to manage.

“It’s very complicated, probably there is no fair decision to take,” she told France Inter.

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“We keep the line of what all the European governments – and other governments – decided in March, i.e. national teams of Russia and Belarus banned, but not the athletes as individuals, as long as they play under strict neutrality. We will be very meticulous on that.

“If any of them should have pro-Putin statements in the media, there will be sanctions for sure.”

Mauresmo also said that she expects nearly a full attendance at this year’s French Open, which starts on May 22.

In 2021 the capacity was restricted due to Covid-19 regulations and there was also a curfew set in the evening.

However, Mauresmo has said “tickets are sold at more than 90-95%” of the capacity, which is a “real success” for the tournament.

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Nadal refused to be drawn this week on whether he would support Wimbledon being stripped of its ranking points over the decision to ban Russian and Belarusian players.

Asked if such a measure had been taken into consideration, Nadal - a member of the ATP Players Council - said: "No and I don't have a clear opinion on that, so I prefer to not give you a clear answer. And that's it.

"There are some private conversations on the council about this kind of stuff, something that honestly I think it's not good to [make] public.

"The only thing that we can do is to be in touch with Wimbledon and with the rest of the ATP management to do the things that work better to protect every single player in the ATP.

"At the end that's our job, to protect the players and to work in the benefit of every single player that we are representing. That's all. The rest of the things I am not able to talk about."

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