Former world no. 13, Alexandr Dolgopolov retired last year owing to a stubborn wrist injury. He is now defending his country. Instead of rackets and balls, he has guns and bullets in his hands. The Ukrainian player could have stayed away in safety but chose to defend his country against the Russian invasion.

Alexandr Dolgopolov defends his nation

He is not alone in his endeavor. He has well-renowned players like Sergiy Stakhovsky and boxing’s heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko alongside him. They all are standing up against the Russian forces. The Ukrainian player took training from an ex-military person for a week and followed his countrymen to defend Ukraine. He has kept the world updated through his Twitter account. Alex can understand and speak Russian well, so he informed he has kept tabs on the Russian forces through Telegram. 

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Dolgopolov on Russia

Alexandr had targeted the tennis authorities for allowing the Russian players to take part in the matches. Russian players like Daniil Medvedev and Andrey Rublev had shared the message of peace. However, he had made it clear that their messages of peace, though well-meant, were not effective. Additionally, the player targeted the Russian people for not taking the war seriously. Talking to Sports Illustrated, he said, “They actually think the war in Ukraine is nothing. Their brains are washed with propaganda. If it’s in sports, if it’s with their rich people, with oligarchs, every Russian must feel that something is wrong.” The loss of lives of Ukrainian forces, Russian forces, and Ukrainian civilians made the player agitated, and he requested to put a stop to it through concentrated efforts of the world. 

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Metaphors of the sport in the war

Dolgopolov thanked the support and encouraged the rest of the world to take a stance against Russia. Moreover, metaphors of sports and war where one has to focus on attacks and counterattacks can not be set aside. He said, “You fight in sport. You fight in here, you have to put your life on it.” Though here, he has so much more to put at stake, his life. Conclusively, he gave essence to all his emotions and situation in a few words. Alexandr stated, “Maybe I’ll be killed. Maybe I have to kill. What can I say? This is war.”

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The Russia-Ukraine conflict has brought various controversies to the sport, but we hope that there is peace soon where players get to play harmoniously.