Russian Daniil Medvedev, world number 5, has accepted an invitation to the Paris 24 tennis tournament as an independent player. The IOC has updated the list of Russian and Belarusian athletes who will participate in the Olympic Games under a neutral flag due to the war in Ukraine.
Russian Ekaterina Alexandrova and Belarusian Victoria Azarenka have also announced that they will play on the Roland Garros courts.
Russian Andrey Rublev, on the other hand, withdrew: the world number 6 and winner of the gold medal in doubles at Tokyo 2020, declined the invitation. Russians Daria Kasatkina and Anna Kalinskaya, the latter being Jannik Sinner’s girlfriend, also withdrew. Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka had already announced her withdrawal in mid-June.
The places available, provided that they compete under the neutral flag, are eight (four men and four women) for Russian athletes, and two for Belarusians (or men and two women). This is the complete list: Russians qualified and invited: Daniil Medvedev (M) – invitation accepted Andrey Rublev (M) – invitation declined Karen Kachanov (M) – invitation declined Roman Safiullin (M) – accepted Daria Kasatkina (D) – invitation declined Liudmila Samsonova (D) – invitation declined Ekaterina Aleksandrova (D) – invitation accepted Mirra Andreeva (D) – invitation accepted Pavel Kotov (M) – invitation accepted Anna Kalinskaia (D) – invitation declined Anastasia Potapova (D) Diana Shnaider (D) – invitation accepted Belarusians qualified and invited: Aryna Sabalenka (D) – invitation declined (unofficially) Victoria Azarenka (D) – invitation accepted
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