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Djokovic said the athletes should not be punished for their country’s actions.

Earlier this week, the organizers of this year’s Wimbledon Grand Slam championship announced that they would be barring all players from Russia and Belarus from competing in the tournament. This is being done to distance the event from the perpetrators of the ongoing invasion of Ukraine. This is the second time in the tournament’s history that any players of particular nationality have been banned from its proceedings, with the first instance being the banning of German and Japanese players post-World War II.

Following the announcement, Serbian player Novak Djokovic condemned the organizers for what he believes is an unfair decision.

“I will always condemn war; I will never support war being myself a child of war,” Djokovic told reporters Wednesday. “I know how much emotional trauma it leaves. In Serbia we all know what happened in 1999. In the Balkans, we have had many wars in recent history. However, I cannot support the decision of Wimbledon, I think it is crazy. When politics interferes with sport, the result is not good.”

World number one Novak Djokovic says Wimbledon's decision to ban Russian and Belarusian players over Moscow's invasion of Ukraine is ‘crazy’ https://t.co/WY7w8ogmwg pic.twitter.com/VxyBFvQyqq

— Reuters (@Reuters) April 21, 2022

After Djokovic’s comment, Ukrainian player Elina Svitolina chimed in with her own thoughts on the matter.

“We don’t want them banned completely,” Svitolina said. “If players don’t speak out against the Russian government then it is the right thing to ban them. We just want them to speak up, if they are with us and the rest of the world or the Russian government. This is for me the main point. If they didn’t choose, didn’t vote for this government, then it’s fair they should be allowed to play and compete.”