Russian tennis great Yevgeny Kafelnikov has issued a blunt reaction after Polina Kudermetova became the latest Russian tennis player to change nationality.<\/p>\n
It emerged on Sunday that Kudermetova had started representing Uzbekistan<\/a> as her profiles on the WTA and ITF websites were updated to display her nationality as Uzbek.<\/p>\n Kudermetova<\/a>, who was born in Moscow in June 2003, had competed for Russia since making her professional debut in 2018.<\/p>\n The 22-year-old finished the 2025 season as the world No 104 having reached her career-high ranking of 54th in April this year.<\/p>\n She is the younger sister of 28-year-old WTA Tour<\/a> star Veronika Kudermetova, a former world No 9 who is currently ranked 30th.<\/p>\n Kudermetova is yet to comment on her decision to begin competing for Uzbekistan.<\/p>\n Kafelnikov, a former world No 1 and two-time Grand Slam champion, has claimed Kudermetova\u2019s citizenship change \u201cwon\u2019t affect Russia in any way.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOnly the president of our federation, Shamil Tarpischev, can officially announce Polina Kudermetova\u2019s transfer to the Uzbek flag,\u201d Kafelnikov said in an interview with Russian website Sport24.<\/p>\n \u201cI personally know that Polina\u2019s boyfriend is an Uzbek citizen. He\u2019s the one who got her involved; it\u2019s a completely normal practice.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t consider Kudermetova\u2019s departure a loss for our tennis. She made her decision, and it won\u2019t affect Russia in any way. What kind of athlete will she be remembered as? I can\u2019t even comment on that.\u201d<\/p>\n During a career spanning from 1992 to 2003, Kafelnikov won 26 singles titles, including the 1996 French Open, the 1999 Australian Open, and the Olympic gold at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.<\/p>\n Tennis News<\/p>\n Tennis federation celebrates \u2018rapidly improving\u2019 Russian star changing her sporting nationality<\/a><\/p>\n