“It is not easy to have your flag removed” Simona Halep feels for her Russian colleagues amidst the Ukraine-Russia war
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Simona Halep
Ever since Russian troops on the order of Vladimir Putin made the attempt to invade Ukraine, a war has begun and affected not only Ukraine but the entire world as well. Simona Halep becomes the latest athlete to give her opinions on the war that has not only tormented the nation of Ukraine but has also seen the Russian citizens suffer consequences.
With many governing sports bodies putting restrictions and regulations on Russian athletes, the sport of tennis was no different. With the suspension of the Russian Tennis Federation, all Russian players have been asked to remove the Russian flags from their social media profiles and have been informed that they will be playing as a neutral athlete and won’t be representing Russia here on if they wish to continue playing the Tour events.
Daniil Medvedev became one of the first Russian tennis players to remove the flag of Russia from his bio of social media accounts that he has. As the situation gets tensed with the innocent Russian citizens facing the consequences of the war that is the ambition of their President, former World No. 1 Halep spoke on the ongoing issues.
“I don’t think we should judge them, just because they are from the same country as Vladimir Putin. It’s hard for me to say anything. It’s not easy to have your flag removed from your name, it’s not trivial,” said the Romanian as reported by WeloveTennis.fr.
Simona Halep had skipped the event in St. Petersburg this year
After a tiring defeat at the 2022 Australian Open, Halep had chosen not to travel to Russia for the 2022 St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy. While the tensions in Russia were rising then with Ukraine, it had no impact on the tournament but Halep had her own reasons to skip the tournament as she had parted ways with all of her coaching team and decided to not hire anyone.
She had played at the 2022 Dubai Tennis Championships where she reached the semi-final losing to eventual champion Jelena Ostapenko. After a first-round defeat at the WTA-1000 Qatar Open, Simona will return to action at the exhibition tournament, the Eisenhower Cup 2022 played before the Indian Wells Open 2022.
Also Read: Indian Wells 2022: Women’s Singles Draw Preview and Prediction for BNP Paribas Open
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Sarthak Shitole
(3462 Articles Published)