“What a disgrace”. Russian tennis player made clowns out of Wimbledon organizers

Wimbledon was the only Grand Slam tournament in 2022 that was held without the participation of Russian tennis players. The British authorities did everything to prevent members of the royal family from congratulating Daniil Medvedev or any of our guys on the victory.

However, the sensational success of Elena Rybakina, who plays for Kazakhstan but trains in Moscow, “blew up” the Western media. They were especially indignant in Britain, calling what happened a “shame” and a “nightmare”.

“What a disgrace”

If this season, the organizers of Wimbledon, under pressure from the WTA and ATP, allowed Russian tennis players to compete in half, a year ago they were more determined. Even the sanctions and the removal of rating points did not stop the British. It would seem that they have created comfortable conditions for themselves, when the Russians would not intersect with members of the royal family. Their plans were destroyed by Elena Rybakina, who took and won Wimbledon 2022.

This hardly anyone could have imagined. The girl, born and living in Moscow, constantly progressed, but the victory at the Grand Slam tournament was still a surprise. Rybakina changed her citizenship in 2018 for the sake of better funding, while physically remaining in Russia. This could not have been known in the UK, so the reaction to Elena’s victory turned out to be incredibly violent.

“What a shame and the worst nightmare the British authorities have experienced this summer. She won nearly £2 million, an amount that will be taxed in the UK, but tennis executives will not be pleased to give this check to someone who has very close ties to Russia, The Sun wrote.

“It turned out to be extremely embarrassing that the Duchess of Cambridge, Kate Middleton, presented the trophy to a tennis player who was born, raised and, as we know, still lives in Russia,” Daily Mail journalists noted.

Kate Middleton / Photo: © Mike Hewitt / Staff / Getty Images Sport / Gettyimages.ru

“This victory will surely be celebrated in the corridors of the Kremlin”

Former British tennis players were also indignant. In particular, the victory of Rybakina caused not the most pleasant feelings in the famous John McEnroe, who admitted on the air of the BBC that, in addition to anger, the success of the Muscovite causes irony.

– The organizers of Wimbledon paid the WTA a million dollars for the exclusion of Russian athletes. And all this was in order for the Muscovite playing for Kazakhstan to win the tournament, and our Duchess of Cambridge was forced to personally give her the award. This victory will certainly be celebrated in the corridors of the Kremlin,” McEnroe said.

It was not only the British media that escalated the situation. Thus, the American edition of The Wall Street Journal stated that “Elena Rybakina left no choice to the organizers of Wimbledon”, hinting that the plan to remove the Russians failed miserably. The Polish politician Janusz Korwin-Mikke spoke much more rudely.

“If Mrs. Rybakina had chosen Polish citizenship instead of Kazakhstani, then you brainless people would still carry her in your arms!” he said on social media.

And this is only a small part of how the topic with the ex-Russian was handled. But ordinary people in the comments to the publications mostly ironic and laughed at the British government. And this is perhaps the main result of the removal of Russia.