Tennis
The tennis star abandoned Russia and the Russian language. I don’t care about my own words
Anastasia Potapova will represent Austria from 2026.
Famous tennis player Anastasia Potapova publicly declared her love for Russia and assured that she would never go under a foreign flag. However, this is exactly the step she took. From 2026, the once best young tennis player in the world will represent Austria.
“I will never in my life leave to play for some other country”
Potapova was born in Saratov, into a sports family. She was brought onto the court at the age of five, and already at nine she won her first tournament. Moreover, he succeeded in his debut competitions.
Soon the girl’s talent became obvious to everyone, and her results only confirmed this. By the age of 14, she was the leader of European tennis according to the Tennis Europe ranking list in her age category. It is interesting that then Nastya confessed her love for her homeland and looked negatively at the change in sports citizenship.
“I don’t want to judge anyone, but I myself will never leave to play for some other country in my life.” I myself am from Russia and will remain to play for this country and under this flag,” 14-year-old Potapova reasoned in an interview with the Championship in 2014.
At the junior level, Potapova was the main hope of Russian tennis. In 2016, she won junior Wimbledon and led the ITF junior rankings. The transition to adult tennis, as often happens, was difficult for Anastasia. However, she reached number 21 in the WTA rankings and won three singles titles. The stumbling block for her remains the Grand Slam competition, where Potapova has never reached the quarterfinals.
“From 2026 I will represent my new homeland”
In 2022, all Russian tennis players were transferred to neutral status. Then Nastya confirmed her commitment to Russia and stated that removal from one tournament is not a reason for changing citizenship. A whole batch of rumors about Potapova’s transfer to another country appeared in 2024, when her then-husband Alexei Shevchenko changed his sports citizenship from Russian to Kazakh. However, the tennis player herself denied everything: there were no offers, and the right time had already passed.
All the more unexpected was the news that Potapova told subscribers on December 4. Starting next year, Anastasia will compete for another country. Her new home will be Austria, to which the athlete has already declared her love.
“I am pleased to inform everyone that my application for citizenship has been accepted by the Austrian government. Austria is a place I love, it is incredibly welcoming and I feel at home there. I love Vienna and am looking forward to making this city my second home. In this regard, I am proud to announce that starting from 2026 I will represent my new homeland, Austria, in my professional tennis career,” Potapova wrote in her Telegram channel.
It is noteworthy that this post is written in English, while most of the previous entries were made in the athlete’s native Russian language. I don’t want to think that along with the flag, Potapova also abandoned the language.
Source: Sportbox
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.