Here at the sports desk located somewhere below decks of the Good Pirate Ship RedState, we prefer to keep the mood light. This is, after all, sports we are talking discussing. It’s not a matter of life or death, no matter how often we feel like screaming “you’re KILLING me!” at our team of choice when they fail to perform satisfactorily. But I digress.

That all said, sometimes we forget there are human beings inside those uniforms. Human beings such as tennis player Daniil Medvedev.

Medvedev, currently ranked #1 in the world, hails from Russia. While he lives in Monte Carlo with his wife, Medvedev’s parents and siblings still live in Russia.

Wimbledon, the tennis tournament even the most casual of fans follow, is coming up. With it, the British appear to desire serving up some modern virtue signaling alongside the traditional strawberries and cream. British Minister for Sport Nigel Huddleston has gone on record as stating Russian and Belarusian players simply not appearing under or around their respective country’s flag isn’t good enough. They also had better personally decry Putin, or else.

”We need some potential assurance that they are not supporters of Putin and we are considering what requirements we may need to try and get some assurances along those lines,” he (Huddleston) added.

Um … okay then.

For reasons apparently unfathomable to MP Huddleston, Medvedev has tread carefully with his words since Putin invaded Ukraine.

“I want to promote my sport, promote it in my country for sure also. Right now, the situation is this is the only way we can play so that’s what I’m going to do. I will try to fight on the court and try to win the tournaments and try to beat the other guys,” he said, via Yahoo Sports.

Might this reticence to speak out have something to do with … oh, here’s a wild hair … fears for his family’s safety should he speak out against Putin? An action that has proven more deleterious to a lengthy lifespan than joining a southern rock band?

It’s so ironic Alanis Morissette is rewriting her song to include a reference. At a time when most everyone on this side of the aisle fervently wishes never again to hear an athlete use their position in pop culture to walk loud, talk proud, and say nothing as they endlessly pontificate about all matters political, an athlete — one at the top of his profession — may end up being barred from competing at the most important event his sport has because he isn’t being sufficiently politically vocal. Never mind Daniil Medvedev being prudent out of understandable fear for his family’s well-being. Sure, we’d all like to see every Russian denounce Putin in no uncertain terms. When it’s you and you alone who’d endure possible repercussions for speaking up, fine. When it’s your loved ones, the equation quickly changes. Let Medvedev play and leave the man alone.