Tennis
Next year, Russian women will fight for a ticket to the Final Tournament and the Olympics, Vikhlyantseva believes
Natalya Vikhlyantseva / Photo: © Mathias Schulz / imago-images.de / Global Look Press
Tennis player Natalya Vikhlyantseva commented on the absence of Russian athletes at the Final Tournament this season.
The Final Tournament 2023 includes Arina Sabalenko (Belarus), Iga Šwiatek (Poland), Cori Gauff (USA), Elena Rybakina (Kazakhstan), Jessica Pegula (USA), Ons Jabeur (Tunisia), Marketa Vondrousova (Czech Republic) and Maria Sakkari (Greece).
— This year there are no Russian tennis players at the final tournament, but it is very pleasant to see that at the second small final tournament in Zhuhai there were three of our girls: Dasha Kasatkina, Veronika Kudermetova and Lyudmila Samsonova. But it’s a matter of time that they didn’t make it to the Final Tournament. If there are three Russian women in the small final, then next year they will be ready to fight for access to the main final tournament.
It’s better to be ready to win at the finals than to just show up and stay in the group. Of course, getting into the tournament already means a lot, but there is no need to say that our girls are in bad shape right now. It’s just that they are probably now ready for the small Final Tournament. Next year they will fight for a ticket to the main Final tournament and the Olympics,” Metaratings.ru quotes Vikhlyantseva.
Source: Sportbox
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