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Tennis fans have expressed their displeasure at the news of players participating in an exhibition event to be held in Russia's St. Petersburg.
The exhibition tournament, named Trophies of Northern Palmyra 2022, is an inaugural event organized by Formula Tennis Hockey LLC, which organizes the St. Petersburg Open ATP 250 and the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy WTA 500. The six-team event is set to be held at the Sibur Arena from December 1-4.
The line-up mainly comprises of tennis players from the country, such as 2021 Australian Open semifinalist Aslan Karatsev, retired Ukrainian-born player Nikolay Davydenko, as well as Evgeny Donskoy, Anastasia Potapova, Anastasia Gasanova, Anastasia Myskina, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Elena Vesnina, Kamilla Rakhimova and Vitalia Diatchenko.
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Other players participating in the exhibition include Yulia Putintseva, Spaniard Pedro Martinez, Serbians Viktor Troicki, Laslo Djere and Janko Tipsarevic, and Hungarian tennis players Marton Fucsovics and Anna Bondar.
Fans haven’t taken well to the revelation about the players being part of the event while the country remains engaged in war with Ukraine. Many expressed their outrage and asked the players to rethink their decision, with one stating that participating in the event would damage their careers.
“They should think again about this. An exho in Russia while that country is waging war on Ukraine is a very bad look and they are damaging their careers by taking part,” the fan said.
Another fan noted that taking part in the tournament was unsafe.
“I would never feel safe being in that country during wartime. We are currently at nuclear threat level Defcon 3 for nuclear war,” a user noted.
Many other fans called out the players for their decision.
“this is TERRIBLE. the fact that davydenko, is originally from ukraine but declares himself russian is pathetic. i wonder what all of those kaRATsev fans are gonna say, if they are gonna defend him. i hate this, shame on everyone playing at this,” one tweet read.
Here are some more fan reactions:
The impact of the Russia-Ukraine war on tennis
The Russian-Ukraine war has had a significant impact on tennis. Since the onset of the war, tournaments such as the men’s St. Petersburg Open and the Kremlin Cup, have been suspended. The Russian team, who were the 2021 Davis Cup champions, were prohibited from competing in the 2022 edition.
Further, Russian and Belarusian players faced bans from competing at the 2022 Wimbledon championships, a decision that was not supported by the ATP and WTA bodies. In response, the governing bodies stripped Wimbledon of its ranking points.
