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Russian tennis players Kasatkina, Rublev say they could consider changing citizenship

Kasatkina expressed a similar train of thought

MOSCOW, July 19. /TASS/. Russian professional tennis players Daria Kasatkina and Andrey Rublev said they could consider changing their citizenship, according to an interview with journalist Viktor Kravchenko that was released on Monday.

The International Tennis Federation on March 1 suspended membership of the Russian and Belarusian federations and canceled any tournaments in these countries, also excluding Russian and Belarusian teams from some of the key world contests. The UK in April banned Russian players from competing in UK tournaments such as Wimbledon Championships.

"Speaking about access to Wimbledon, it would be acceptable to change the passport. Participation would be allowed then," Rublev said in the interview, which was posted on journalist Kravchenko’s YouTube channel. "If we are banned from all tournaments and I want to continue a sports career, then yes, that [change of citizenship] would be one of the options."

Kasatkina expressed a similar train of thought.

"Our federation went out of existence for the International Tennis Federation. The world championship was taken away from us. Things are up in the air with the Olympics," she said. "Passport change? We’ll see."

Kasatkina and Rublev are some of the top-ranked Russian tennis players globally.

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