The President of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) Stanislav Pozdnyakov named a “team of foreign agents” of Russian tennis players who expressed a desire to compete at the Games in Paris. The Sport correspondent discusses whether our racket masters deserve such a strict definition.
“They play for themselves, condemn the country’s policy and the Central Military District.” The reason for such a harsh statement by the head of the ROC was the interview of the best tennis players of Russia Daniil Medvedev and Daria Kasatkina to “Sport-Express”, in which they commented on the words of the President of the All-Russian Federation of Rhythmic Gymnastics Irina Viner.
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“In Paris they said that Russians should compete in a team of homeless people, and this is now being carried out,” she said. “A team of homeless people without a flag, an anthem, or fans will go to the Olympics.”
“Homeless Daria says hello to everyone and wishes them a good day,” Kasatkina wrote after that on social networks, and later deciphered the message in an interview. “With great pleasure!” answered the best Russian tennis player when asked if she would go to the Olympics in Paris. “I’m very glad that we were allowed to attend. For me, the Olympic Games are a very important event. It so happened that I went to the last Olympics in Tokyo for a number of reasons I didn’t go. But I want to play in Paris. If I qualify for it, I will perform without any questions.”
“”In life, every person has the right to their opinion, just as I have the right to be with him disagree,” Medvedev, in turn, noted. “Everyone has their own reasons for thinking this way and not otherwise. For my part, I repeat: if there is an opportunity, I will gladly go (to the Olympics).”
On this Internet -bridge “Russia – America” (Kasatkina and Medvedev performed last week in a tournament in Miami) and the president of the Russian Olympic Committee decided to intervene.
“I want to emphasize that I share and support Irina Aleksandrovna’s position, our opinions here completely coincide. The only thing is that I do not agree with the definition of “a team of homeless people” specifically in the case of tennis players who live abroad most of the time, earn money there, and claim at the same time, that they are “playing for themselves”, condemning the policies of their country and the North Military District. So, from my point of view, it is more correct – “a team of foreign agents,” Pozdnyakov snapped. “For which there will definitely not be any obstacles to representing themselves at the Olympics. Moreover, individual Olympic entrepreneurship is now being actively promoted from Lausanne.”
“I sincerely respect the achievements of the masters on the courts, but from a human and civil point of view, our approaches to the current situation are diametrically opposed,” the ROC president with these words tried to soften the wording from the previous paragraph, but on the whole it did not work. Pozdnyakov pinned down Russian tennis players in a way that no one had ever pinned them down in the entire history – except, perhaps, in the ancient times of the construction of communism, when tennis was considered a bourgeois and harmful sport.
Let's not lie – Pozdnyakov is right that that the majority of leading Russian tennis players are truly out of touch with the country. Medvedev’s place of residence is Monte Carlo, Kasatkina’s is Barcelona. They visit their homeland infrequently, except during a short period of vacation. And so they spend almost the entire year traveling around the world, performing in professional tournaments.
At the same time, they earn much more than the vast majority of representatives of other sports, including after the start of the SVO – since professional tennis tours did not even think of removing Russians from performances. The same Olympic champion in athletics, Maria Lasitskene, said that her income fell by more than half after her suspension. But Russian tennis players are doing well in this regard – the same Medvedev earned, for example, 2 million 220 thousand dollars in 2024 alone.
As for the remark of the head of the ROC that Russian tennis players “condemn the policies of their country and the Central Military District,” there are no official statements on this matter. There were emotional outbursts – for example, Kasatkina had in an interview with blogger Viktor Kravchenko, but in general our racket masters remain neutral – in full accordance with their status, in which they continue to perform in tournaments.
True, information appeared on the Internet that, for example, in order to participate in Wimbledon, Russian tennis players had to sign a declaration containing the following words: “I will not express support for a special military operation in Ukraine (the wording has been changed as required by Russian legislation – author’s note) or the Russian and/or Belarusian regimes and/or their leadership.” No one has officially answered the question whether this was done, but judging by the fact that all our leading tennis players, without exception, performed at Wimbledon, the answer is obvious.
People continue to root for them. Still, calling Russian tennis players “foreign agents” is probably too much. Firstly, this definition can only be made by the competent authorities. Secondly – and here, too, there is no point in prevaricating – Russian society continues to root for our players, even if they are rare guests in their homeland, especially after the cancellation of the Kremlin Cup and St. Petersburg Open. And at the top, including: for example, at the Eastern Economic Forum last year in Vladivostok, the presenter suggested applauding Medvedev’s entry into the final of the US Open. This happened in the presence of Vladimir Putin, and he joined in the applause.
And, finally, blaming them for not living in Russia is also wrong. As you know, our climate is such that even in Sochi it is impossible to train outdoors all year round, let alone in central Russia. Experts have repeatedly said that in order to achieve leading positions in the world, our tennis players, in fact, are forced to leave for warmer climes abroad. But after finishing their career, not everyone stays there. Marat Safin, Yevgeny Kafelnikov, many others are in Russia.
Of course, the latest actions of the International Olympic Committee to discriminate against Russian athletes cross all boundaries. The conditions for participation in the Paris Games degrade human dignity, there is no other way to put it. But still, the position of the Russian President, who stated that the choice – to go or not to go to Paris – remains with the Russian athletes themselves, has not been canceled. This means that calling those who decide to make a choice in favor of the Olympics people who “receive foreign support or are under foreign influence” (the definition of a foreign agent) is also too much.
And I would also like to add – it’s sad that we forget how Russian tennis players brought real glory to the country. Maria Sharapova could have changed the flag to the American one a hundred times, but out of principle, she played for Russia until the end of her career and proudly carried our tricolor at the opening ceremony of the London Olympics. More than once our tennis players won team tournaments – the Davis Cup and the Fed Cup (now the Billie Jean King Cup), and thanks to the spirit of patriotism they beat those who were higher in the aggregate rating. Well, don’t forget the case when Andrei Chesnokov, having fought off nine match points against the German Michael Stich in the Davis Cup, was awarded the Order of Courage. This is also our history, which cannot be erased.
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