The Indian Wells tournament kicks off on Wednesday with the women’s debut. The most prestigious event in professional tennis after the four Grand Slam tournaments, it is also one of the first global events to welcome Russians and Belarusians since the invasion of Ukraine.
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Because, yes, unlike the Beijing Paralympic Games from which they were banned in extremis last week, the athletes of the two belligerent nations were able to continue their activities within the ATP and the WTA.
They will possibly be 11 Russians (one was still in qualifying on Tuesday evening) and four Belarusians to dream of major honors in California, but they will play their matches under a neutral flag. No reference to their nationality will be made during the tournament, as decided by the men’s and women’s tennis authorities.
The International Swimming Federation (FINA) followed this same model on Tuesday, announcing that athletes from both countries will be able to continue to participate in its events, but without mentioning where they come from.
In Indian Wells, Russians and Belarusians will compete alongside three Ukrainians, possibly four if Ilya Marchenko gets his ticket to the big draw.
Among them are Elina Svitolina, 12e favorite, and Dayana Yastremska, recent finalist in Lyon. These two players carry on their shoulders the pain of their country since the outbreak of fighting.
Svitolina, a former world top three, initially refused to face Russia’s Anastasia Potapova in Monterrey, Mexico, even though she said she didn’t blame Russian and Belarus players for the invasion of her country.
The Ukrainian then canceled her decision when the WTA announced that her opponent would play the match under a neutral banner, like all her compatriots for the next tournaments.
Donations to the military
The 27-year-old, from Odessa, a port city in the south of the country, also announced that she would donate all the winnings from her next competitions to her army.
As for the young Yastremska, also from Odessa, she came to France after fleeing Ukraine by boat alongside her younger brother Ivanna.
the 103e world racket had stayed with her parents during the early days of the war, but they urged her to leave home for her safety.
Taking advantage of an invitation from the organizers of the Lyon event, she overcame her anxiety to reach the final.
“I played for myself and for my country. I had a lot of emotion and I was very tired after winning difficult matches,” the 21-year-old said after the final encounter.
For peace
Within the strong Russian and Belarusian contingent present in California, some major players have taken a stand against the war in the last few days.
The Russian Andrey Rublev, seventh favorite, said from the start of the assaults to be against the war in Ukraine and to wish “peace in the world”. After his semi-final in Dubai, a tournament he would eventually win, he signed the lens of a camera with the words “no war please”.
Belarusian Victoria Azarenka deplored the armed conflict on her social media, saying she had always considered Belarus and Ukraine to be “friendly nations”.
But in Indian Wells, eyes will be mostly on Daniil Medvedev, new world number one. The 26-year-old Russian also said he wanted “peace between all countries, for all children in the world […] who have all their dreams.
Crowds and tense matches
Will this plea for an end to the fights be enough to spare them the wrath of the public, the American crowd not having the reputation of being always soft towards the athletes, even in less dramatic circumstances?
Some 83,000 Californians are of Ukrainian descent. But the state relies above all on a large Russian diaspora. Their number is estimated at 1.1 million.
In other sports, such as hockey, some athletes from Russia say they have received many of the threats on the web. Alex Ovechkin, captain of the Washington Capitals, and his entourage have also benefited from “reinforced security” for a week.
“People want to take it [aux joueurs russes] and to their families. The situation is difficult ”, recently said on this subject Brian MacLellan, the general manager of the Capitals.
Beyond the crowd, the tournament could lead to tense clashes between representatives of the two countries. Even if, for the moment, the Russian tennis players surveyed have all said they are in favor of peace.
Controversy in gymnastics
Which is not the case in all sports: at the Artistic Gymnastics World Cup in Doha, Qatar, the Russian Ivan Kuliak climbed to the third step of the podium wearing the letter “Z” on his uniform, sign of support for the Russian invasion.
A gesture all the more controversial as the winner was … the Ukrainian Illia Kovtun.
Hit with sanctions and banishments from all sides, Russian sport begins its response. It was announced on Tuesday that the country’s soccer federation has appealed its suspension from FIFA competitions, which includes qualifying for the upcoming World Cup.
RUSSIA
Ekaterina Alexandrova
Anastasia Gasanova*
Daria Kasatkina (23e first in the series)
Veronika Kudermetova (21e)
Anastasia Potapova
Liudmila Samsonova (28e)
Vera Zvonareva
Aslan Karatsev (22e)
Karen Khachanov (25e)
Daniil Medvedev (1is)
Andrey Rublev (7e)
BELARUS
Victoria Azarenka (13e)
Aryna Sabalenka (2e)
Aliaksandra Sasnovich
Ilya Ivashka
Elina Svitolina
Dayana Yastremska
Anhelina Kalinina
Illya Marchenko*
* If they qualify
