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MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Novak Djokovic is again on the Australian Open, which is newsworthy, sure, primarily due to the explanation he was not within the event a yr in the past: He is not vaccinated against COVID-19.
One other participant — albeit one who’s lower-ranked, much less profitable and fewer well-known, Camila Giorgi — drew scrutiny due to printed stories in her house nation of Italy about whether or not she bought a faux vaccine certificates from a health care provider beneath investigation that might permit her to journey.
“Unbelievable,” Giorgi’s father, Sergio, mentioned when that topic was the one one addressed throughout her information convention at Melbourne Park on Tuesday. “No questions on tennis.”
Ah, welcome to the fashionable world. Tennis, specifically, and sports activities, generally, can’t assist however mirror society. And which means athletes, spectators and the parents who run leagues and occasions should deal with, and maybe confront, regardless of the prevailing world touchpoints are at any given time.
A pandemic. A battle. Psychological well being. #MeToo. Gun violence. And so forth.
“There’s at all times people who say, ‘Politics and social points, and sports activities or leisure, shouldn’t combine. They need to be separate.’ However that’s not actuality, both, since you’re coping with people who find themselves being affected by these issues. And so, prefer it or not, you must be concerned with it,” WTA CEO and Chairman Steve Simon mentioned. “And it does direct and power you to make choices that perhaps you historically wouldn’t need to do.”
Greater than a yr in the past, Simon declared the women’s professional tennis tour would remove all of its tournaments from China over issues concerning the well-being of Peng Shuai, a Grand Slam doubles champion who accused a former authorities official of sexual assault.
Simon wished a full and clear inquiry into her allegations and an opportunity for the tour to speak with Peng — none of which has occurred — and so he nonetheless won’t decide to bringing WTA occasions again to China.
With an eye fixed to that matter, together with the pandemic and the battle in Ukraine, Simon mentioned: “I’m hopeful that we’re shifting on to a quieter 2023 with a bit fewer of those.”
When Aryna Sabalenka, a Belarusian seeded No. 5 on the yr’s first Grand Slam event, was requested Tuesday a couple of new Tennis Australia coverage stopping spectators from bringing flags representing her nation or Russia — which invaded Ukraine nearly a year ago — to matches, in order to not trigger disruptions, her response was a bit stunning.
“I actually thought that … sport (has) nothing to do with politics,” Sabalenka mentioned.
This from somebody who, like all gamers from Russia or Belarus, was barred from competing at Wimbledon final yr due to the battle, main the tennis excursions to take the unprecedented step of withholding rating factors from that prestigious occasion.
It is just pure that no matter is likely to be a collective concern would turn into related throughout the realm of sports activities. Particularly in an exercise as worldwide as tennis: There are gamers from greater than 40 nations within the singles fields on the Australian Open.
“Sports activities and tennis can have a task in something happening around the globe. Tennis has gamers from each continent, tournaments in each continent and it’s seen worldwide on TV,” mentioned Casper Ruud, a Norwegian who was the runner-up on the French Open and U.S. Open in 2022 and is seeded second on the Australian Open. “Tennis gamers have a voice, and I feel they’ve used it nicely over the previous yr, particularly when it comes to some political debates and the battle in Ukraine. Tennis has stood its floor nicely.”
One instance: Iga Swiatek, a 21-year-old from Poland who’s ranked No. 1, has been carrying a blue-and-yellow ribbon — the colours of Ukraine’s flag — on the hat she wears whereas taking part in to indicate solidarity with that nation. She additionally hosted an exhibition occasion to lift cash for humanitarian efforts there, as have numerous tournaments.
One other instance: Coco Gauff, an 18-year-old from Florida who was the runner-up to Swiatek ultimately yr’s French Open, has taken benefit of her platform to make public statements about gun violence and the Supreme Court docket’s determination to overturn Roe v. Wade and different matters.
And another: Naomi Osaka, a 25-year-old who was born in Japan and moved to the USA along with her household at age 3, wore masks bearing the names of Black victims of police violence throughout her run to the 2020 U.S. Open title. The subsequent yr, she helped spark a public and widespread dialog concerning the significance of defending one’s psychological well being by revealing she had handled despair and anxiousness for years.
“Each time there’s a world situation, whether or not it’s good or unhealthy, we undoubtedly really feel it within the tennis world, as a result of one in all our colleagues, one in all our friends, goes to be affected by it. We have now gamers from all over the place. We play all over the place,” mentioned Felix Auger-Aliassime, a 22-year-old Canadian who’s seeded No. 6 in Melbourne. “It’s worthwhile to have a way of empathy for folks all over the place and the tennis ecosystem is a superb illustration, on a small scale, of the world.”
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AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
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