Wimbledon's Russian ban is the correct call to keep stars like Daniil Medvedev safe

Wimbledon's ban on Russian tennis players may put it out of step with the other Grand Slams and expose it to accusations of discrimination but in the trying circumstances the championships were presented with it was the right call. As much for Daniil Medvedev and co as anyone.

The criticism of Wimbledon has overlooked the fact that as a championship it was faced with a Russian doll of a problem. On the outside there was the moral quandary faced by the French Open and the rest of denying individual sportsmen and women the chance to compete simply because of an accident of birth. Exclusion by geography jars but inside there were unique layers of complexity to this situation.

The Ukrainian players did not want the Russians there - that in itself, coming from a country at risk of being erased from the map, held a powerful sway. And other sports like athletics and rowing had provided a precedent in issuing bans on Russian competitors - not just teams.

But the most pertinent point in Wimbledon's decision-making process - thanks to the intervention of the UK government - was the players' own safety. Not from hordes of unruly strawberry-throwing louts at SW19 but the very real menace of the Russian state itself.

The stipulation by the UK authorities that any player intending to compete at Wimbledon as a neutral athlete was required to come out against the Putin regime first was a dangerous hoop for them to jump through.

Put yourself in Medvedev's position. Either he backs his country's 'special military operation' and is forever labelled a war-monger or he effectively calls out Putin.

Whatever his private thoughts on the horrors unleashed in Ukraine would the World No 2 have really wanted to do that and possibly compromise the