No flag for Aryna Sabalenka at Wimbledon 2025? Here’s why
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "No flag for Aryna Sabalenka at Wimbledon 2025? Here’s why")
No flag for Aryna Sabalenka at Wimbledon 2025 Photograph: (X/@Wimbledon)
While Sabalenka gave all her heart on the court, tennis enthusiasts noticed one strange thing throughout the tournament: there was no Belarus flag next to her name on the scoreboard. Instead, a plain blue rectangle was displayed. Here's why!
Aryna Sabalenka’s dream run at Wimbledon 2025 came to a halt as she was knocked out in the semi-final by the USA's Amanda Anisimova. The American stunned the top seed with a thrilling 6–4, 4–6, 6–4 victory to book her spot in her maiden final at the SW19. After dropping the first set, Sabalenka fought hard, bouncing back in the second set to level the match. But in the final set, Anisimova held her nerve and delivered big under pressure, sealing the biggest win of her career so far.
While Sabalenka gave all her heart on the court, tennis enthusiasts noticed one strange thing throughout the tournament: there was no Belarus flag next to her name on the scoreboard. Instead, a plain blue rectangle was displayed, raising many concerns among viewers. What was the actual reason? Let's decode it.
Since 2022, players from Belarus and Russia have not been allowed to play under their national flags at any Grand Slam tournament. This rule was introduced following the Russian-Ukraine war, with Belarus being a strong supporter of Russia. As a result, Aryna Sabalenka has been competing as a 'neutral' athlete for the past three years.
The International Tennis Federation (ITF) had suspended the Russian and Belarusian tennis federations from all their events.
“The ITF condemns Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and its facilitation by Belarus,” the organisation said in its official statement.
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In 2022, Wimbledon went a step further and banned Russian and Belarusian players completely. Sabalenka had to skip the tournament that year. Though she returned to the grass courts of London the next year, the flag restriction remained.
Sabalenka has been vocal about the situation. “It’s sad that politics has entered the sport. We are just tennis players trying to do our job,” she had said earlier.
