Excellent performances of Russian and Belarusian tennis players at Wimbledon 2023 haunt the British media. They are terribly afraid that the Princess of Wales, Kate Middleton, will have to present an award to a representative of an unfriendly country. Also got Maria Sharapova, who was called «cold and tough».
Fear of repeating the «worst nightmare» A resonant article by The Telegraph journalist Simon Briggs became perhaps the main topic of discussion at the beginning of the second week of Wimbledon, where three Russians managed to break through — Daniil Medvedev, Andrey Rublev and Roman Safiullin. Belarusian Arina Sobolenko and a native of Moscow, now representing Kazakhstan, Elena Rybakina, remained in the women's grid. The latter became the winner of last year's Wimbledon, and it was Kate Middleton who presented the main trophy to her.
A year ago, the British media were furious about this fact. But then the Russians and Belarusians were not admitted to the tournament, so if one of them succeeded, there would be even more anger. At Wimbledon 2023, ours and Belarusians still managed to take part, and they perform very well. Let's not forget that Ekaterina Alexandra and Mirra Andreeva could also make it to the quarterfinals. 16-year-old Mirra became one of the main sensations of the tournament, falling in love with local fans and earning comparisons with Maria Sharapova, which will be discussed later.
So the journalist Briggs is sure that the high results of Russians and Belarusians can become «the worst nightmare of the Princess of Wales», and also expressed an unfounded opinion about the standard of living in Russia, linking it precisely with the successes of Medvedev and the company.
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«It's easy to imagine the worst-case scenario for the All England Club this weekend. This is the one in which the Princess of Wales presents the trophy to one of these officially stateless players. Such a conclusion would represent a nightmarish escalation of last year's embarrassing storyline in which Her Royal Highness shook hands with Elena Rybakina, a Muscovite playing under the Kazakh flag,» Briggs wrote.
«Many Russians have no choice and no social security» Do you feel the rhetoric? The Briton is trying to humiliate Medvedev, Rublev, Safiullin, Sobolenko, calling them «these stateless players.» In fact, they all have citizenship, just because of including British sanctions, they cannot represent their native countries. It is also not very clear why shaking hands with Rybakina could become a nightmare for Kate Middleton. She herself did not comment on this in any way and did not portray any negative. It looks like it's just a British media fantasy. Let's move on.
Briggs wondered why tennis had become so popular in Eastern Europe. In his opinion, it all started in 1984, when this sport returned to the Olympics. Allegedly, the communist governments saw this as an opportunity for propaganda and invested in «privileged academies». The British journalist is sure that the youth used tennis for the dream of escaping to the West. He also cites the words of a well-known coach, without mentioning his name.
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“Many Russians have no choice, no social security system, no federation money – which means they have only one path to a better life. When the odds are against you, when you have your back against the wall, you do your best to succeed. In the UK, the coach is often the driver trying to push the player forward, while players from Eastern European countries have their own motivation,” Briggs refers to an anonymous speaker.
«Sharapova is one of the coldest and toughest personalities in sports» It would be extremely curious to hear the opinion of Medvedev, Safiullin, the same Mirra Andreeva as to whether they had a choice and social protection in childhood. Although the author of the article hardly thought about it and is familiar with how Russians live. Briggs even managed to mention the Wimbledon champion Maria Sharapova and refer to her autobiography, in which she talked about hard training in Sochi «even during rain and strong winds.» Apparently, in the UK there is no precipitation and winds, and future tennis players train exclusively in sunny weather. No wonder, then, that UK No. 1 Cathy Boulter is ranked 89th in the WTA rankings. in Moscow, where Martina Navratilova, who was watching her, chose her from the squad and informed her that she needed to go to America if she wanted real training. Sharapova went on to become an international icon, a leggy blonde teen who won Wimbledon at 17. But behind this glamorous appearance was one of the coldest and toughest personalities in sports,” Briggs concluded.
It’s terrible to imagine what will happen to Briggs and other representatives of the British media if one of the Russians or Belarusians wins Wimbledon. Even if reaching the quarter-finals causes so many emotions, what can we say about a potential victory.