The names of Russian cities have disappeared from broadcasts from the French Open. And this is clearly not an accidental oversight.
Russian and Belarusian tennis players have long been performing at all major international competitions under a neutral flag. Everyone is used to this, especially since the ATP and WTA reacted relatively adequately to the sanctions against our country and still tried to protect the rights of athletes as much as possible, taking into account the mass insanity of the West.
However, isolated provocations and abominations still happen. This time they affected former Russian tennis players at Roland Garros, who were decided to be canceled at their place of birth.
Another attempt to spoil
Exactly a year ago, at the French Open, there was a scandal with the Belarusian world tennis star Aryna Sabalenka, who was literally hounded by Ukrainian journalists with questions about politics at press conferences. It got to the point that the athlete was forced to temporarily abandon official communication with the press, and the tournament organizers met her halfway. Although the noise continued for a long time.
This time there was hope that provocations could be avoided. After all, the Russians and Belarusians have been playing in this status for two and a half years. None of them could say or do anything new, especially before the Olympics, where Daniil Medvedev and the rest of our tennis players intend to go.
But all hopes for adequacy evaporated when, during the broadcast of the French Open, former Russian tennis players, now representing other countries, simply lost information about their place of birth. Usually, at the very beginning of the broadcast of any game at Roland Garros, the directors provide graphics with information about the athlete, which specifically indicates the place in the ranking, height, weight, age, results in 2024 and, of course, place of birth.
And here the most interesting part begins. For American Sofia Kenin and Kazakhstani representative Yulia Putintseva, who were born in Moscow, these facts simply disappeared from their biography. The same goes for Varvara Gracheva, who was born in Zhukovsky in the Moscow region, who received French citizenship last year and now plays for this country. On the official website of Roland Garros, the data on these athletes is still in full, although there is a suspicion that this will not last long. Attentive “kind” viewers will probably want to look into this too.
This kind of Russophobia is amazing. After all, we are not just talking about Russian and Belarusian tennis players, but about those who have already changed their citizenship and represent other states. And this is another example of disgusting discrimination based on nationality. There’s no point in going into details here, because any adequate person can see how it all looks from the outside.
On the other hand, there is hope that this Russophobia will soon reach such an insane degree that it will be impossible to remain silent and tolerate it. After all, if desired, Russian roots can be found in half of the athletes, but for all of them it will not be possible to cancel the place of birth.
I am a sports journalist who has written for a number of Sportish. I have a background in journalism and have been writing since I was young. My main focus is sports news, but I also write about general news. I am currently working as an author at Sportish.
Austrian tennis player Sebastian Ofner (ATP 131) suffered a disappointing defeat in the second round of the 2026 Australian Open qualifiers.
In the semi-finals of the selection, the Austrian player lost to the US representative in three sets Nisheshu Basavareddy (ATP 239) in 2 hours 32 minutes. Basavareddy took the victory over Ofner in the third set super tiebreaker.
Sebastian was ahead 7:1 in the super tiebreaker and started celebrating his victory after gaining a point. Sebastian started walking towards the goal and the referee told him the match wasn’t over yet.
As a result, Ofner lost 11:13 and missed two match points: one at 10:9 on the return, the other at 11:10 on serve.
Basavareddy will compete against George Loffagen (Great Britain, ATP 211) in the Australian Open qualifying final.
I am a sports journalist who has worked in print and online. I have authored articles for a sports website and have covered sports news for over 6 years.
On January 14, all second round matches in tough tournaments ended WTA 500 in Adelaide And WTA 250 in HobartIt will take place parallel to the Australian Open 2026 qualifying match (Melbourne).
In Adelaide, Dayana Yastremskaya’s felon Katerina Sinyakova lost to Diana Schneider in the second round.
The best moments of tennis matches LIVE on Telegram channel Tennis on Sport.ua
Second-seeded five-hundred Madison Keys knocked out Tereza Valentova, and eighth-seeded Victoria Mboko fought Anna Kalinskaya.
Victoria Mboko [8] – 🏳️ Anna Kalinskaya – 6:2, 3:6, 7:6 (8:6) Teresa Valentova – Madison Keys [2] – 4:6, 1:6
WTA 500 Adelaide. Quarter final matches
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🏳️Mirra Andreeva [3] – Ayla Tomljanovic [WC]
🏳️Diana Schneider [9] – Emma Navarro [6]
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Kimberly Birrell- Jacqueline Christian [Q] Victoria Mboko [8] – Madison Keys [2]
Video review of match day in Adelaide
In Hobart, top seed Emma Raducanu advanced to the quarter-finals without a fight – Magdalena French withdrew from her second round match.
Olga Danilovich, who defeated McCartney Kessler and advanced to the second place, also defeated Peyton Stearns in the 1/8 final.
Third-seeded Iva Jovic crushes her opponents: The young American first gave up just one game to Janice Tjen and then defeated Renata Sarasua with scores of 6:1, 6:2. Her next opponent will be Magda Linette.
WTA 250 Hobart. 1/8 final
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Emma Raducanu [1] – Magdalena French – WO., Raducanu Rebecca Shramkova – Talia Preston [WC] – 4:6, 1:6
I am a sports journalist who has worked in print and online. I have authored articles for a sports website and have covered sports news for over 6 years.
(Adelaide) Leylah Annie Fernandez and her Hungarian playing partner Timea Babos fell 7-6 (3), 6-7 (6) and 6-10 to the Czech Katerina Siniakova and the Chinese Zhang Shuai in the quarter-finals of the women’s doubles at the Adelaide tennis tournament on Wednesday.
Fernandez and Babos bowed after a tight duel lasting one hour and 59 minutes in front of the second seeds of the doubles tournament.
Siniakova and Zhang will face Kazakh Anna Danilina and Serbian Aleksandra Krunic, fourth seeds in the doubles, in the final four.
The Quebecoise, 22e world racket, lost to Russian Diana Shnaider 7-5, 6-3 in singles on Monday.
Furthermore, Ontario’s Victoria Mboko, eighth seed, will meet in the quarter-finals of the women’s singles with American Madison Keys, second seed, at the end of the evening.
Mboko is playing her first official WTA singles tournament in 2026, and her first since Hong Kong, which she won, in November 2025.
I am a sports journalist who has worked in print and online. I have authored articles for a sports website and have covered sports news for over 6 years.
Maria Bouzkova [LL] – 6:3, 6:1
