Svitolina “was on a mission”
Medvedev need not fear exclusion
03/02/2022 08:17
Daniil Medvedev may continue to participate in tournaments for tennis professionals. The Russian, who has just made himself number one in the tennis world, need not fear exclusion. Meanwhile, a Ukrainian played a much-noticed match.
World number one Daniil Medvedev does not have to fear being excluded from the tennis tour for the time being. After the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the tennis federations of Russia and Belarus are suspended, but players are still allowed to take part in international tournaments. This was announced by the men’s organization ATP, the women’s organization WTA and the world association ITF.
Accordingly, the two countries are excluded from the team competitions. International tournaments should also no longer be held in Russia and Belarus. Players can continue to compete on the tour or at the Grand Slams, but will no longer fly the Russian flag. The Russian Medvedev has just replaced Novak Djokovic at the top of the world rankings. The Serb had previously led the world rankings for 172 weeks in a row.
Medvedev himself had positioned himself against the war last week: “I stand up for peace all over the world,” said Medvedev. “Waking up here in Mexico and seeing the news from home wasn’t easy,” he said during the tournament in Acapulco. As a tennis player, he promotes peace around the world. “We play in so many different countries, I’ve been to so many different countries as a junior and as a professional. It’s not easy to hear all this news,” said Medvedev. It has been his goal since childhood to become number one in the tennis world. “But in those moments it’s clear that sometimes tennis isn’t that important.”
Medvedev was born in Moscow but has lived in Monte Carlo for a long time. In Mexico, his wife Daria also made a clear commitment: During her husband’s matches, she sat in the stands – with the colors of Ukraine on her lapel.
Svitolina “was on a mission”
The Ukrainian tennis player Elina Svitolina, meanwhile, had moved away from her announcement that she did not want to compete against Russian opponents the night before the ATP and WTA decision was announced. She will “not play a match against Russian or Belarusian tennis players” until the ATP and WTA follow the IOC’s recommendations “and only accept Russian or Belarusian players as neutral athletes who do not wear national symbols, colors, flags or anthems.”
She doesn’t “blame any of the Russian athletes,” said the world number 16, who had advanced to number 3 in the world in 2017. “You are not responsible for the invasion of our motherland,” Svitolina had written. She also wanted “to express my appreciation to all the players, especially the Russians and Belarusians, who bravely took a stand against the war.”
Now she played in Monterrey against the Russian Anastasia Potapova. “Today I will wear the Ukrainian colors and it means a lot to me – it will be a special evening for me,” said Svitolina. The Ukrainian, who was seeded 1st at the tournament in Monterrey, then won the match 6:2, 6:1. The 27-year-old previously announced that she would donate her prize money from Monterrey and the upcoming Masters tournaments to the Ukrainian army and humanitarian causes in her home country. She was “on a mission for her country.” Potapova made a statement against the war herself before the match. “I’m sorry, but even if politics is alien to me, I’m against grief, tears and war. Peace unites the world, and everyone should remain human in it.”