England fell in love with Russian tennis players. The shocking outcome of Wimbledon

Amazing things are happening in the UK during Wimbledon 2023. At first, local media lamented the success of Russian and Belarusian tennis players, and now they confess their love to them and call them winners.

Did you finally understand something?

Russia’s victory used to be called ‘worst nightmare’

Tennis remains one of the few sports where Russians and Belarusians continue to compete on the international stage. Only Wimbledon kept aloof from the Grand Slam tournaments, which last year categorically refused to accept our athletes. Even the loss of rating points did not frighten the organizers of the competition. After 12 months, the British still caved in under the ATP and WTA.

Still, they realized that they risked losing their status and a lot of money for the second time in a row. And from a sporting point of view, Russian and Belarusian tennis players add intrigue. What can I say if three Russians in the men’s bracket made it to the quarterfinals of Wimbledon 2023 at once, and Belarusian Arina Sobolenko reached the semifinals in women. And we are not talking about the 16-year-old Russian sensation Mirra Andreeva, who made a huge number of tennis fans fall in love with her this year.

At first, the British media strongly opposed such results of ours. They remembered how, a year ago, Princess of Wales Kate Middleton had to present the main award for winning Wimbledon to Moscow-born Elena Rybakina, representing Kazakhstan. Telegraph journalist Simon Briggs burst into an article in which he called the possible victory of a Russian or Belarusian athlete this year “the worst nightmare of the British authorities.”

It’s easy to imagine the worst-case scenario that could happen this weekend. What if the Princess of Wales was presenting a trophy to one of the stateless players. This would be a repeat of the nightmarish escalation of last year’s story in which Her Royal Highness shook hands with Elena Rybakina, a Muscovite playing under the Kazakh flag, Briggs wrote.

Then he dragged Maria Sharapova into the theme, whom he called “tough and cold”, despite the image of a long-legged beauty. His idea was that Russians do not have normal living conditions in their native country so much that tennis becomes one of the few alternatives to leave their homeland and start earning. This he explained the success of our Wimbledon.

Elena Rybakina / Photo: © Clive Brunskill / Staff / Getty Images Sport / Gettyimages.ru

From hate to admiration

However, just a few days passed, and The Guardian journalist Paul McInnes published an article with a completely opposite meaning. The Briton suddenly expressed a storm of delight at how cool the Russians and Belarusians are behaving off the court, how the fans love them. And he even called them “winners of Wimbledon.”

– Russian tennis stars simply charmed everyone in Britain, they are the real winners of Wimbledon, although the same Daniil Medvedev still has a chance to officially become one. The Russians and Belarusians did not initially seem like welcome winners, but now they are. Many of them showed their best results in the tournament, and the icing on the cake was 16-year-old Mirra Andreeva,” McInnes wrote.

An amazing turn in the rhetoric of the British media, don’t you think? Moreover, the journalist continued to admire our tennis players, apparently based on how ordinary viewers treat them. By all accounts, MacInnes was so heavily influenced by his government’s political rhetoric that he was somewhat out of touch with reality. But in reality it turned out that the people have their own position and normally perceive the return of Russians and Belarusians to Wimbledon.

– Their success on the court was significant, but it was not limited to this. At meetings with fans and the media, Russian stars personified charm. Medvedev, who has a reputation as a hothead, was always fooling around, clearly trying to win over the fans who supported him from the first round until the quarterfinals. Rublev was polite in his statements and charmed the fans by signing autographs. Andreeva blushed when asked about her admiration for Andy Murray. In the information war, it is difficult to distinguish truth from lies. But a year after the successful return of the suspended players, there is a feeling that the advantages that Wimbledon expected to exclude, in the end, were received, McInnes concluded.

Mirra Andreeva / Photo: © Mike Hewitt / Staff / Getty Images Sport / Gettyimages.ru

Fans understand too

Fans in social networks, long before the release of this material, for the most part showed adequacy and urged not to mix sports with politics. Fortunately, there were practically no handshake incidents at this tournament, except for the situation with Victoria Azarenka and Elina Svitolina. Otherwise, the British quite loyally perceived the successes of the Russians and Belarusians.

— Wimbledon, in fact, died last year, removing Russia and Belarus. Who made this decision and on what basis? It’s like someone would tell Svitolina that she should only marry a man from Ukraine, wrote Lord of Beauties.

– It annoys me that the organizers forbid showing the flag of Russia in front of the names of tennis players. This is very low, – said Rob.

– Journalists, leave your crazy questions about politics at the door. Stop causing anxiety and irritation, just let people play tennis,” Chrissy said.

— Pretty grim accusatory tone in the Guardian article. I never understood this idea that the Russian players at Wimbledon could somehow influence the military operations. I don’t understand how reading a Russian novel helps something bad. Someone explain? sunless wonders.

If many in Britain have begun to understand everything, it means that things have really moved off the ground. Although, perhaps, the majority understood everything perfectly before, it’s just that now it is allowed to publish it in the open space.