26 Feb, 12:54

At least 20 Russian tennis players may change national affiliation — sports official

In 2024, Russian tennis players Alexander Shevchenko and Elina Avanesyan changed their national affiliation and are now playing for Kazakhstan and Armenia respectively

MOSCOW, February 26. /TASS/. At least 20 Russian tennis players could change their national affiliation, President of the Russian Tennis Federation (RTF) Shamil Tarpishchev said on Wednesday.

"Things here are complicated - there are no tournaments in Russia, the leagues are idling, we have no financial contributions and cannot finance [tennis] reserves," Tarpishchev said at a session of the State Duma (lower house of Russia’s parliament) Committee on Physical Culture and Sports.

"We have a thousand people playing abroad and people can switch and play for other countries," he said. "I know that they are being ‘worked on’ and at least 20 people may leave today."

In 2024, Russian tennis players Alexander Shevchenko and Elina Avanesyan changed their national affiliation and are now playing for Kazakhstan and Armenia respectively.

Russian players’ neutral status at tennis tournaments

On February 28, 2022, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) issued recommendations to international sports federations to bar athletes from Russia and Belarus from taking part in international tournaments, citing Moscow's special military operation in Ukraine as the reason.

Following the IOC's recommendations in late February 2022, the majority of global sports federations decided to bar athletes from Russia and Belarus from all international sports tournaments.

The International Tennis Federation (ITF) ruled on March 1, 2022 to suspend the membership of the Russian and Belarusian national tennis federations while also canceling all previously scheduled tennis tournaments in the two countries.

On March 14, 2022, the ITF also confirmed its prohibition on the Russian and Belarusian national tennis teams from taking part in the 2022 Davis Cup and 2022 Billie Jean King Cup.

However, the Women Tennis Association (WTA) and the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) allowed tennis players from Russia and Belarus to continue participating in WTA and ATP tournaments, but only under a neutral status.

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