NEW YORK (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 14th September, 2021) There are no political underpinnings in the sport of tennis and players have fans and and haters at tournaments they play all over the world, Russian tennis player Daniil Medvedev told Sputnik.
On Sunday, the 25-year-old Medvedev beat Serbia's Novak Djokovic in straight sets to win the US Open and capture his first Grand Slam. The next day, Putin congratulated Medvedev on his victory, noting his class and perseverance and wished him good luck and new successes in life and sports.
"Tournaments are all over the world, and everyone has their own fans, everyone has their own haters... as such, there really is no political underpinning here in tennis," Medvedev said. "That is, tennis is a little different in this regard."
He also said tennis players travel to some 20 countries a year.
The question of whether the sport is outside of politics is a difficult one, Medvedev added, but he reiterated that he truly thinks that the international nature of the sports tournament and training schedules keep the two separate.
Medvedev outplayed the Serbian world number one 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 on Sunday night, denying Djokovic a record-breaking 21st major men's singles title that would have completed the calendar-year Grand Slam.
