[Zhan Jianjian/Comprehensive Report]Although professional tennis agreed to let Russian and Belarusian players compete in a neutral way with the national flag and country name removed, there are still many fans who are criticizing the professional players in these two countries. Simona Halep asks fans: “Don’t judge them”!
The sports world has followed world leaders in taking steps to punish Russia after Russian President Vladimir Putin announced an invasion of Ukraine. The Executive Board of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) advised national sports federations and event convenors “not to invite or allow Russian and Belarusian athletes and officials to participate in international competitions”.
Following the conference call, FIFA banned all Russian national teams and clubs from all competitions “until further notice”, all but certain to exclude them from the Qatar World Cup European play-offs.
The International Tennis Federation was more lenient than the IOC’s call, and announced it would not ban individual athletes from ATP and WTA events. Although Russian and Belarusian players must play under a neutral flag.
That leaves high-ranked players like WTA world No. 3 Aryna Sabalenka and ATP world No. 1 Daniil Medvedev of Russia and world No. 7 Andrey Rublev have been affected a lot.
But Halep called on everyone to understand and said that it was not easy for these athletes to be taken away. “I don’t think we should judge them just because they’re from the same country,” Halep said in the interview.
“It’s hard for me to say anything. There may be more decisions in the next period, but they are not to be blamed. I am sorry for their current mood. It is not easy to take your flag off your name”. But Halep still condemned the Ukrainian war and said she wanted the war to end immediately.
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