British Tennis Forum - Celebrating 20 Years!

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

Views on status of Russian players in tennis

Brendan F · Intermediate Club Player

I think it's unfair to tar everyone with the same brush as they will all have different amounts of support from their organisation, which is really their only link with the government, which is the only entity responsible for the suffering of Ukraine. I don't generally take an interest in the private lives of players to know what that amount might be in each case. The only one I do follow is Pavluchenkova who seems to have a life in France and presumably has little to do with Russia outside of her family. I can imagine that the likes of Sabalenka and other top players would also have lives that keep them at a long distance from their government and so it really then comes down to whether they actually actively support their regime as to how much they should be punished just for being a citizen of a particular country.

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Brendan F wrote:
I think it's unfair to tar everyone with the same brush as they will all have different amounts of support from their organisation, which is really their only link with the government, which is the only entity responsible for the suffering of Ukraine. I don't generally take an interest in the private lives of players to know what that amount might be in each case. The only one I do follow is Pavluchenkova who seems to have a life in France and presumably has little to do with Russia outside of her family. I can imagine that the likes of Sabalenka and other top players would also have lives that keep them at a long distance from their government and so it really then comes down to whether they actually actively support their regime as to how much they should be punished just for being a citizen of a particular country.

A government is there by the will of the people

The people are not utterly disconnected from their government

Russia had presidential elections last year - the people elected the man who is responsible for the suffering in Ukraine - the peole are part of this

Now, you might wonder if those elections were completely 'de rigueur' - it's a fair question - but you can't just assume they weren't - and, just by the by, most of the Russians I know (and that's probably about 20 or so) all support Putin, to a greater or lesser degree - I find the West wish to see him as a dictator imposed on the country but I'm a long way from believing that's true

This is not to say what the answer to John's question is

But I very much disagree with your idea that the government alone is responsbile, as though it's some completely separate body, floating in the ether, with no connection to the public

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

Thanks for the responses so far - I voted, but am keeping quiet for now (as my view does tend to waver tbh) but interesting to see the profile so far!

Brendan F · Intermediate Club Player

Coup Droit wrote:
Brendan F wrote:
I think it's unfair to tar everyone with the same brush as they will all have different amounts of support from their organisation, which is really their only link with the government, which is the only entity responsible for the suffering of Ukraine. I don't generally take an interest in the private lives of players to know what that amount might be in each case. The only one I do follow is Pavluchenkova who seems to have a life in France and presumably has little to do with Russia outside of her family. I can imagine that the likes of Sabalenka and other top players would also have lives that keep them at a long distance from their government and so it really then comes down to whether they actually actively support their regime as to how much they should be punished just for being a citizen of a particular country.
A government is there by the will of the people
The people are not utterly disconnected from their government
Russia had presidential elections last year - the people elected the man who is responsible for the suffering in Ukraine - the peole are part of this
Now, you might wonder if those elections were completely 'de rigueur' - it's a fair question - but you can't just assume they weren't - and, just by the by, most of the Russians I know (and that's probably about 20 or so) all support Putin, to a greater or lesser degree - I find the West wish to see him as a dictator imposed on the country but I'm a long way from believing that's true
This is not to say what the answer to John's question is
But I very much disagree with your idea that the government alone is responsbile, as though it's some completely separate body, floating in the ether, with no connection to the public

When Putin makes his opponents disappear I'm going to keep assuming

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Yes, it's a fair point

But you still can't abrogate the public from all responsbility

You have what you accept to have

And, as said, purely personally, I am surprised/astonished/upset by how much support Putin has by Russians who are not in Russia, and do not even have family there

It is too easy, in my opinion, to think of it as a country with one rotten apple at the top and 143 million people all cowering in fear

mdewey · Junior player

My only strong feeling is against letting them into team competitions where it is, in some sense, country rather than person. I do not have much preference between the other three so voted for the status quo as a compromise.

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

Interesting to see the votes - half of people who have voted say leave it as it is. A few think they should be completely banned, whilst the same number voted to relax a little and show nationalities again. No one yet in favour of allowing them to play team events.

Myself - I think letting nationalities be shown is something we should do - I think not showing them actually draws attention to their nationality, not hides it - and most people following tennis know where players come from anyway. In essence, I dont think it does any good or helps. But I guess all sports are following the same policy and so tennis will stick with the general rule, which is fine also.

indiana · Tennis legend

I certainly wasn't going to vote for completely ban them or let them back into team competitions so it came down to the pretty much status quote two options. FWIW I wouid show countries just because essentially why not ( I fail to see it achieves anything not showing them ) but no strong feeling on that.

I guess some might see that as some sort of concession but I'm not sure it's worthy of being seen as such, being a pretty meaningless gesture in the first place.

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

Thanks for those who voted - 18 people and half say we should leave it as is.

Not sure if will be on Trumps agenda in Alaska next week so leaving as is is no doubt what it will be!

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

indiana wrote:
I certainly wasn't going to vote for completely ban them or let them back into team competitions so it came down to the pretty much status quote two options. FWIW I wouid show countries just because essentially why not ( I fail to see it achieves anything not showing them ) but no strong feeling on that.
I guess some might see that as some sort of concession but I'm not sure it's worthy of being seen as such, being a pretty meaningless gesture in the first place.

Outside leave as is, a v small preference to showing countries again - I suspect same reason as Indy gives, not sure it has made or makes any difference. But As Is leads the way.

GBJ · County player

indiana wrote:
I certainly wasn't going to vote for completely ban them or let them back into team competitions so it came down to the pretty much status quote two options. FWIW I wouid show countries just because essentially why not ( I fail to see it achieves anything not showing them ) but no strong feeling on that.
I guess some might see that as some sort of concession but I'm not sure it's worthy of being seen as such, being a pretty meaningless gesture in the first place.

I feel very similar to this but I could easily be swayed if I heard that for some reason Ukrainians felt strongly that we should keep the flags off the draw lists etc. I would be interested to see how a few Ukrainians feel about this particular issue....There is also a part of me that feels tennis is way less important than the lives of the Ukrainian people and because of what CD says about the links between public opinion and that therefore if we completely banned them than maybe it might have some small effect to help people think more about that but if like CD says we have Russians (did you mean they are in the UK Cd?) with few family in Russia who still are so pro Putin then I imagine it would more have the effect to make them just feel more misunderstood and probably Putin. If I really thought it would make real difference then maybe I would go for that extreme option - much as I would hate having Sabalenka et al absent

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Just to answer your question, GBJ, this is Russians in the UK (and some in France)

Russians in London, I probably should say

But it's also Russians ranging from one of the porters of my building to university students to a Russian guy who manages a hedge fund in Mayfair

And includes 21 year-olds, and 80 year-olds, men and women

So, in so far as it goes, it's pretty broad

It's actually been quite big problem in London - there were lots of Russians and Ukranians working alongside, in hotels, security, whatever. Who'd known each other and happily worked alongside for years, if not decades (in one case)

But it's all broken - the Russians support Putin, quite openly in most cases, and the Ukranians can't work with them

9vicman · Futures qualifying

I don't think we need to ask John Isner to vote. Pretty tone deaf in my opinion, as are a lot of the replies to his tweet: x.com/JohnIsner/status/1953277304609882313

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

9vicman wrote:
I don't think we need to ask John Isner to vote. Pretty tone deaf in my opinion, as are a lot of the replies to his tweet: x.com/JohnIsner/status/1953277304609882313

Putting aside some of the rubbish in the Isner X thread, hes saying let them use their flag again. Which sort of tallies with a number of us on here, doesnt it?

edited to clarify

-- Edited by JonH comes home on Saturday 9th of August 2025 10:47:51 AM