Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, and Serena Williams’ management company refuses contract with teen Russian player
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Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams' management company denied to sign a contract with the teen Russian player
Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer and Serena Williams are regarded as one of the greatest players of all time the sport has ever seen. They have been managed by various sports management agencies in their vast careers while sometimes had been managed by a same agency. Diana Shnaider, the teen player from Russia faced an unfortunate incident when she was denied to be represented by a leading sports agency.
Due to the invasion war between Russia and Ukraine, the Russians players were denied to participate at some of the tournaments of the year. They even faced a lot of discrimination in terms of behaviour from other players as well as brands and sport agencies since they deny to support the players from Russia. Ukrainians denied to participate in the presence of the Russian players and Victoria Azarenka faced a lot of wrath for not showing support to the players from Ukraine despite being a member of the WTA council.
Shnaider was supposed to be represented by the sports management agency named IMG which had earlier represented players like Federer, Djokovic, Serena Williams to name a few. The sports agency completely refused to be associated with any Russian players and denied to give the 18-year-old a contract. She was hopeful to getting a contract but enlightened on the discrimination players like her have been facing due to the war which does no good.
“No, I still don’t have a representation contract. I considered getting represented by IMG, but they said, ‘Sorry, we won’t do anything with Russian players,” said Diana Shnaider during an interview.
Strict rules have been put in place for the Russian and Belarusian players at the 2023 Australian Open
Due to the invasion of Russia in Ukraine and war-like conditions, the 2022 Wimbledon Championship banned all Russian players to participate at the Grand Slam. Since Belarus extended their support to Russia, even all Belarusian players were banned from Wimbledon. Despite a lot of other players did not approve of the decision, still they couldnot change the harsh decision. Players like Daniil Medvedev, Andrey Rublev, Aryna Sabalenka and others were forced to miss the major tournament.
In order to be fair to all the players, ATP decided not to award any ranking points to the participated players. It was an missed opportunity to showcase unity in sports and set an example that sports and politics are kept aside but all went in vain. During the French Open and the US Open, players had to play under a neutral flag. Similarly for the 2023 Australian Open, the government has laid strict rules in order to be able to participate at the first Grand Slam of the year.
It has made it clear that the Russians and Belarusian players will have to play under a neutral country name and will not participate in any activities related to their country. The Auckland Open where ASB Bank is the title sponsor has been threatened of a possible sponsorship withdrawal if Russian and Belarusian players are allowed to compete.
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Prateek Pradhan
(601 Articles Published)