Kazakhstan’s Tennis Federation has hit back at claims from the chief of Russian tennis that Elena Rybakina is using the country for her sporting career and has a residence in Moscow.
Shamil Tarpischev recently spoke about the former Wimbledon champion amid a growing number of Russian players switching their allegiance. The most recent being Polina Kudermetova, who is now representing Uzbekistan. Another recent case is Anastasia Potapova, who has started to play for Austria. The number of changes comes amid Russia’s ongoing ban from team competitions due to the war in Ukraine. Players from the country are also only allowed to play on the Tour under a neutral status.
“Three people left for Uzbekistan, Potapova left for Austria… And that’s about it, really. And it wasn’t the leaders who left, but those who don’t make it to the Olympic Games. Plus, young players are being bought out,” Tarpischev recently told Match TV.
“People also like to remind us about Rybakina. But we can be blamed for not seeing that she would become a star. At the time she left, she was seventh in her age group. But she lives in Moscow and has Russian citizenship. Her sports citizenship is Kazakhstan. It was done for her sports career.”
Rybakina was born in Moscow but has played for Kazakhstan since 2018 after receiving an offer from the country’s federation for funding, training bases, support and money. Speaking about that pivotal moment in her career during an interview with The Guardian, she said ‘everything came together in that moment.’
Concerning the suggestion Rybakina is using Kazakhstan purely as a ‘sports citizenship,’ the country’s federation (KTF) has issued a statement saying they provide no such thing and confirmed the 26-year-old has full citizenship.
“The information circulated with comments by the president of the Russian Tennis Federation, Shamil Tarpishchev, about Elena Rybakina’s citizenship is not true. Elena Rybakina does not live in Moscow,” the KTF said in a statement sent to sports.kz.
“She is a citizen of the Republic of Kazakhstan, has a Kazakh passport, and is registered in the capital, Astana. Elena herself has repeatedly stated this. Claims that she has ‘Russian citizenship’ or some kind of ‘sports citizenship’ are not true — there is no such thing as ‘sports citizenship’ in Kazakhstan. Elena Rybakina has officially represented Kazakhstan in all international tournaments since 2018 and is a member of the national team.”
Rybakina is currently ranked fifth in the world and has won 11 WTA titles so far in her career. This season, she achieved a win-loss record of 59-19, winning titles in Strasburg, Ningbo and at the WTA Finals.
