Wimbledon bans Russian & Belarusian Players

[+ Charlie]

Wimbledon supposedly banned the Russian and Belorussian players so Putin couldn't gloat about a Russian winning at the tournament. But now they have a Russian woman, Elena Rybakina--born and raised in Moscow--in the final, who only got into the tournament because technically she represents Kazakstan, which essentially bought her to boost their own tennis program. I wonder how Putin will play that fact if she wins the title.

[+ WilliamM]

1 hour ago, Charlie said:

Wimbledon supposedly banned the Russian and Belorussian players so Putin couldn't gloat about a Russian winning at the tournament. But now they have a Russian woman, Elena Rybakina--born and raised in Moscow--in the final, who only got into the tournament because technically she represents Kazakstan, which essentially bought her to boost their own tennis program. I wonder how Putin will play that fact if she wins the title.

The western Democratic countries of course did the right thing.

[BSR]

Yikes! Rafa's abdominal tear was worse than I thought.  He has withdrawn from his semifinal match, giving Nick Kyrgios a walkover into the final.  I thought he would at least wait until tomorrow morning to see how the abdominal feels, but the tear must be too great to even think about playing.  I can't remember the last time a player withdrew from a Slam semifinal.

Of course, the other semi has yet to be played, but forgive me Cam Norrie for anticipating a Novak-Kyrgios final.  Novak is playing great and looked very impressive in the last 3 sets against Jannik Sinner.  Note that Kyrgios won the only 2 matches he played against Novak.

[BSR]

2 hours ago, Charlie said:

Wimbledon supposedly banned the Russian and Belorussian players so Putin couldn't gloat about a Russian winning at the tournament. But now they have a Russian woman, Elena Rybakina--born and raised in Moscow--in the final, who only got into the tournament because technically she represents Kazakstan, which essentially bought her to boost their own tennis program. I wonder how Putin will play that fact if she wins the title.

Thanks for this info.  Since I don't follow the women's side as closely, I was wondering about Rybakina.  When I saw her in the latter rounds, I thought, "Wait, isn't she Russian?"  So she's born & raised in Moscow but wears a Kazakh fig leaf.

[+ Charlie]

41 minutes ago, BSR said:

Thanks for this info.  Since I don't follow the women's side as closely, I was wondering about Rybakina.  When I saw her in the latter rounds, I thought, "Wait, isn't she Russian?"  So she's born & raised in Moscow but wears a Kazakh fig leaf.

The Russian federation didn't want to invest in developing her, so she found another former Soviet Republic which did. She is certainly not alone in that regard (see Kukushkin, Putinseva, etc.).

[+ Charlie]

1 hour ago, WilliamM said:

The western Democratic countries of course did the right thing.

"Of course"? (Careful: we're veering into Politics here.)

Edited July 7, 2022 by Charlie

[BSR]

31 minutes ago, Charlie said:

The Russian federation didn't want to invest in developing her, so she found another former Soviet Republic which did. She is certainly not alone in that regard (see Kukushkin, Putinseva, etc.).

OIC, she switched nationality to get support, like Bublik.  Either the Russian tennis federation is terribly short on funds, or there are so many promising young players that a lot of them are denied support, much like the situation in Spain.

Well, good for Rybakina, from being treated as not worth investing in by her own country's federation to the Wimbledon final.

[+ WilliamM]

Norrie received an overwhelming ovation at the end of the match.

Well deserved

[+ Charlie]

Well, a Russian has won Wimbledon in spite of the AELTC. Although Rybakina officially represents Kazakstan, she still lives in Moscow, but she was diplomatic enough in her acceptance speech not to say anything about being Russian, though she did mention that her parents couldn't be there to watch the match.

[BSR]

Whoever scouts talent for the Russian tennis federation has some serious egg on their face now that a player they dismissed as not worth developing has just won Wimbledon.  How ironic that if the Russian federation had supported Rybakina in the first place, she would have been barred from entering this year's Wimbledon.

I heard that the British government put some heavy pressure on the LTA to ban Russian & Belarusian players because they didn't want the PR "disaster" of Princess Kate awarding the trophy to a Russian/Belarusian player.  Then we end up with a ladies singles champion who is Russian through & through, just with a Kazakhstani fig leaf.

If I were Rybakina, I would have spoken Russian in my acceptance speech just to be a smartass.

 

[+ WilliamM]

Last time I checked there are many

peoplewho support The decision   by

Wimbledon 

 

[Becket]

The fact that a Russian woman won the tournament will be well spun in Moscow.  I was for the Tunisian player.  She exhibits such a warm personality. 

[BSR]

22 hours ago, Becket said:

The fact that a Russian woman won the tournament will be well spun in Moscow.  I was for the Tunisian player.  She exhibits such a warm personality. 

I was rooting for Jabeur as well.  Unfortunately, she stopped playing her style (lots of dying slices and drop shots) and instead tried to pound groundstrokes with the Russian, er, Kazakhstani.  Not sure why Jabeur ditched her usual playing style ... nerves? lost confidence?  I do know that if you're super-nervous, delicate touch shots are tougher to execute because of the stiffness in your arm.

[+ WilliamM]

Yesterday in The New York times

The unvaccinated Meets the unrestrained

[+ Charlie]

The Russian Tennis Federation has proudly claimed that Rybakina is "our product," and to a large extent, that is true--she was in the Russian program until she was 18; what Kazakhstan has provided is really the proper packaging and marketing of the product. I feel sorry for her, because she has to tiptoe carefully around the minefield that her international success has caused, as she tries to thank everyone appropriately without stepping on any political mines. So far her natural shyness and reticence have served her well, and I hope Putin continues to stay off the subject.

[+ WilliamM]

No substantial mentioned of yesterday's men's final?

Between Novak and Nick

[BSR]

Novak wins #21!  Kyrgios played better than I expected.  I thought he would be more overwhelmed playing his first Slam final, but he managed the nerves & pressure OK.  As usual, he served great (30 aces), but once Novak got a read on his serve, the match was over.

It cracked me up that Kyrgios kept berating his box for not showing enough support, yet every time the camera showed them, they were giving him a standing ovation.  What more did he want ... back flips? cheerleader pyramids?

It also cracks me up that Novak & Nick are brand new BFFs.  For years, Kyrgios said things that I thought were very rude & disrespectful to Novak, to which Novak responded that he has no respect for the guy.   But in Australia when almost none of the other players supported Novak, Kyrgios was very outspoken in his criticism of the government's handling of the situation.  They became friendly after that, and as Novak said in his acceptance speech, "This is officially a bromance."

[+ Charlie]

Kyrgios is a fantastically talented player, but I have difficulty watching him, because his constant chatter drives me crazy, especially his criticism of his team--what on earth does he expect them to do?! He reminds me of John MacEnroe at his worst. (I couldn't stand watching him either in his playing days.) Novak is looking more and more like a dignified spokeman for the sport, regardless of his anti-vax nonsense.

With the sound turned off, however, it was great fun to watch the match, which I did from beginning to end.

[+ WilliamM]

8 minutes ago, Charlie said:

Kyrgios is a fantastically talented player, but I have difficulty watching him, because his constant chatter drives me crazy, especially his criticism of his team--what on earth does he expect them to do?! He reminds me of John MacEnroe at his worst. (I couldn't stand watching him either in his playing days.) Novak is looking more and more like a dignified spokeman for the sport, regardless of his anti-vax nonsense.

With the sound turned off, however, it was great fun to watch the match, which I did from beginning to end.

His anti vax stance is far, far more more dangerous than anything Nick does

 

 

[BSR]

2 hours ago, Charlie said:

Kyrgios is a fantastically talented player, but I have difficulty watching him, because his constant chatter drives me crazy, especially his criticism of his team--what on earth does he expect them to do?! He reminds me of John MacEnroe at his worst. (I couldn't stand watching him either in his playing days.) Novak is looking more and more like a dignified spokeman for the sport, regardless of his anti-vax nonsense.

With the sound turned off, however, it was great fun to watch the match, which I did from beginning to end.

Most of the people in Kyrgios's box are not his team; I think most of them are his family/friends.  Nick has no coach, maybe he has a fitness guy & an agent, but that would only account for 2 people in his box.  The rest must be family (his father & sister were pointed out) or friends (his girlfriend was the women sitting front row, far right).  I kept thinking, "Those poor people traveled all the way from Australia to support him, and Nick treats them like this??"  I'm sure he is much nicer to them otherwise than he is during matches, but still ...

One wrinkle in the non-vaxx issue that isn't that well known:  French player Jeremy Chardy claims that ever since he got vaxxed, something went wrong and he has not been able to train in the gym, practice, or play matches.  Chardy has spent most of his career ranked between 40-80 with a career-high ranking of 25, but he hasn't played since last year's US Open and is currently ranked #661.  Novak has never cited Chardy as a reason for refusing the vaccine, but I'm sure Novak is aware of Chardy's claim.

[+ WilliamM]

I think the people in his box were thrilled Nick won the first set and played well throughout the match.