The All English Lawn Tennis Club’s (AELTC) decision to ban Russian and Belarusian athletes from this year’s Wimbledon tournament has been met with a lot of criticism.

The decision was made as a response to the Invasion of Ukraine by Russia. Moscow has called this a special military operation and Belarus has been key in this operation as well, leading to the ban on athletes from both countries.

This has drawn criticisms from the current world number one believes it was wrong and disrespectful. “I think it (Wimbledon’s Ban) was a wrong decision. I don’t support that at all. But at these times it is a sensitive subject and whatever you decide will create a lot of conflicts.”

The ban has led to Wimbledon being stripped of its ranking points by the ATP and WTA over the exclusion of players from Russia and Belarus.

Djokovic said this following his first-round victory against Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka and added that “it is a very unique and weird situation but a Grand Slam is a Grand Slam”.

The Serb who missed the Australian Open earlier this year would be looking to win the French Open and go level with Rafael Nadal on 21 Grand Slams.