Russian player changes her nationality to compete at 2022 Wimbledon despite ban

| by Balasz Virag

Natela Dzalamidze is world number 44 in doubles in the WTA Rankings, and a few days ago, she was representing Russia.

However, the All England Club has decided to ban Russian and Belarusian players from competing at the 2022 Wimbledon and so if Dzalamidze wanted to compete at the tournament, she had to be creative.

She was and will be featured on the entry list of the tournament. Natela Dzalamidze represented Russia during her whole career, but from now on, the 29-year-old athlete will be competing under the flag of Georgia.

In her career, Dzalamidze has already played in multiple doubles finals, as she didn't really enjoy a lot of singles success. In 2021, she won two WTA 250 titles, first in Cluj-Napoca with Kaja Juvan and then with Kamilla Rakhimova in Linz.

This year, she already played a final in Istanbul, losing with Kamilla Rakhimova to Marie Bouzkova and Sara Sorribes Tormo, but if she wanted to play at Wimbledon, Dzalamidze had to find a solution as players from her country, Russia, were banned from competing.

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After the sport's officials authorized the swap in time for last week's registration deadline, Natela Dzalamidze will play in the women's doubles alongside Serbia's Aleksandra Krunic.

It's unclear when her application was submitted, but insiders informed The Times that she met all of the conditions.

It's an interesting approach from the player, and even more interesting will be to follow whether some more players competing in both Tours would join Dzalamidze in her move.

While it can possibly allow them to enter more tournaments in the future, it requires to accept a new citizenship, something many players may not be keen on doing.

For now, Dzalamidze is the only one, and she will want to use the participation to improve her previous results in 2022, as she lost in the first round of both the Australian Open and the Roland Garros.

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