Daniil Medvedev will no longer have a Russian flag next to his name. The ATP has removed the flag next to Medvedev’s name on its website. Tournaments will also follow a similar protocol to condemn Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.
Medvedev has also removed the Russian flag from his Instagram account. He will competing be as a neutral player without affiliation to any country. The International Tennis Federation (ITF) has suspended Russia from team competitions.
But Daniil Medvedev is hopeful that he can play under the Russian flag again. He said:
Our task is to develop tennis in the countries where each of us comes from and all over the world. For that, you have to play tennis every week at every tournament. At the moment, the only way to continue is to play without a flag, and I will follow this rule. But I hope that this measure will be temporary. I am waiting for the moment when we will be able to carry the flag again next to our names, of the Russian athletes.
But former Ukrainian player Alexandr Dolgopolov feels that Russian tennis players must be banned from the sport.
They (tennis tournaments) lack courage, above all they don’t want to assume the eventual consequences,
Frankly it’s not enough to say ‘We’re against the war”
Every Russian person must pay the price for this aggression
-Alexandr Dolgopolov
Dolgopolov will be fighting with arms to defend his homeland against Russia. He retired from tennis in 2021.
