PARIS -- Poland's top tennis player Wojtek Fibak, banned from his hometown club because of interviews he gave condemning martial law, said Friday he had no qualms about returning home and did not expect reprisals.
'I don't see any connection between my position with the club and the situation in Poland,' the 30-year-old Fibak, now based in the United States, told a specially-called press conference at the French Open Championships.
'I am not involved in politics, I am a professional tennis player,' he said. 'History is made in Poland, not on the tennis circuit, although I have never been happy since martial law was imposed.'
Fibak has not returned to his homeland since the declaration of martial law in December, 1981. But his expulsion from the Polish Police (Militia) club in Poznan should have no bearing on his being able to travel freely to and from Poland, he said.
In interviews with French magazines, conducted late last year but only published recently, Fibak was critical of the martial law regulations in Poland. He also failed to turn up, because of other commitments, for Poland's Davis Cup tie against Belgium earlier this year, which Poland lost 5-0.
Fibak said he had been told by the Polish Tennis Federation his services were no longer required for Davis Cup and Kings Cup matches. But he repeated that his expulsion from his Poznan club should have no bearing on his returning to visit family in Poland whenever he liked.
