Tennis
Russia has lost its fourth tennis player in two months. Smeared with honey abroad?
Why do Russian women leave en masse for Uzbekistan?
At the end of the year, women’s tennis was hit by a real epidemic of transfers between countries. This time it affected Polina Kudermetova, a 22-year-old Russian tennis player who will now represent Uzbekistan. Information about this appeared in her profiles on the official websites of the WTA and ITF, although the athlete has not yet made a separate public statement.
What is known about changing citizenship
Polina Kudermetova is listed under the flag of Uzbekistan on the Women’s Tennis Association website. She is currently ranked 104th in the WTA rankings (previously she was ranked 54th). On the website of the International Tennis Federation (ITF), Polina also appears as a representative of Uzbekistan, despite the absence of an official press release.
In fact, the issue has already been resolved: it is the federations and rating organizations that are the first to record such changes. This usually means that all formal procedures have either been completed or are in their final stages.
Kudermetova’s career: stability without high-profile breakthroughs
Polina Kudermetova is 22 years old. During her career, she won nine ITF titles and has long been considered a strong second-tier WTA player capable of a breakthrough. This is the level where stability is more important than isolated sensations, and issues of financing, logistics and support for the federation often come to the fore.
In early December, Polina competed at the WTA 125 tournament in Angers, where she failed to make it to the quarterfinals. In the second round, she lost to German Anna-Lena Friedsam (193rd racket in the world) – 3:6, 6:1, 2:6.
Polina’s sister Veronika Kudermetova, who is in the top 30 in the world rankings, continues to compete under a neutral flag. Their paths in professional tennis are increasingly diverging, both in the sporting and administrative sense.
At the same time, Polina Kudermetova’s transition is just another episode in an emerging trend. Earlier, Kamilla Rakhimova and Maria Timofeeva passed under the flag of Uzbekistan. Another Russian tennis player Anastasia Potapova chose Austria. In recent months, such news has become noticeably more frequent.
Why Uzbekistan
Former Russian tennis player Natalya Vikhlyantseva drew attention to the situation. She admitted that she does not like to comment on the change of citizenship, but noted that there have been too many transitions in a short period of time.
According to Vikhlyantseva, tennis players in national teams receive compensation for travel, support from coaches, medical support and small payments. Changing citizenship may be associated with better financing, easier travel without visas, chances of getting to the Olympic Games or getting more attractive sponsorship contracts.
— You can change your citizenship for the sake of more funding, bonuses, to simplify travel without visas, the opportunity to compete at the Olympic Games if in your home country you are far from the main team, as well as for more profitable sponsorship contracts. By sponsorship contracts I mean sportswear, rackets, cars, cosmetics, casual or evening wear, optics, etc. Such contracts have traditionally been more attractive to tennis players from Europe, the USA, Canada and Asia. Therefore, at one point in my career, I was offered to play for France, but you all know my choice,” Vikhlyantseva wrote in her Telegram channel.
Separately, she mentioned Uzbekistan. According to her, the country recently passed laws that allowed wealthy people to return to their homeland, after which active funding for sports began – as part of the patronage system. This is precisely why Vikhlyantseva explains the sharp interest of the Uzbek side in Russian tennis players.
— A law was recently passed that allowed many wealthy people in the country to return to their homeland. After this, active financing of various sports federations began – as an obligatory element of patronage,” Vikhlyantseva wrote.
There is one more important point. Since 2024, Polina Kudermetova has been working with Ravshan Sultanov, a specialist from Uzbekistan. There are no official comments from Polina herself yet. But judging by how quickly the information appeared in international databases, we can say: we will see it under a different flag at the next tournaments.
Source: Sportbox
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