"Over 30 Russian players looking to change citizenship" - says head of Kazakh tennis

| by Tom Grant

The vice-president of the Kazakhstan tennis federation has revealed more than 30 Russian tennis players have applied for Kazakh citizenship in the hope of avoiding bans from competitions.

Yuriy Polskiy admitted the number is made up mostly of junior players from age 12 years plus, but insisted there are some adult pros who have instigated hope of switching their nationality from Russia to Kazakhstan - without naming names.

Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina changed her allegiance in 2018, allowing her to circumvent the ban on Russian and Belarussian nationals in London and compete at SW19, subsequently stunning the tennis world when she toppled all before her.

ATP World No.43 Alexander Bublik made a similar move to Kazakh citizenship from Russia in 2016 after moving to the country and forming an emotional connection with his new home.

And vice-president Polskiy told Championat applications have increased since Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

He said: “Until today, there were more than 30 applications.

“They are mostly children, from 12 years old and up. There are also professionals, adult players who would like to make such a transfer.”

Many of these players will be unable to make such a move due to International Tennis Federation’s (ITF) rules, preventing players from playing for another country if they have represented a senior national team for one country, in event such as the Davis Cup or Billie Jean Cup.

And Polskiy went on to hint that some of the top Russian's in tennis have thought about moving to his home country.

"Of the current Russian national team, I mean both men's and women's, of those who are at the top of tennis, many thought about the possibility of "moving" to Kazakhstan, but those decisions were not realised for various reasons.

Polskiy explained that Kazakh tennis is 'wise' to select only the players who really want to play for Kazakhstan said their priority was homegrown local players.

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