The tennis players of the two respective countries play as neutral athletes in the WTA and ITF matches, but in the Guadalajara “WTA 1000” qualification, the 25-year-old Miroshnichenko surprised with a Ukrainian flag ribbon on her hat, making her debut on the WTA tour.
“In matches, I have a ribbon. I have ordered a lot of them, because I have ten different hats – I put a blue and yellow ribbon on each one. It is a very important sign for me that I am from Ukraine, which is always in my heart. When I play, the ribbon gives me strength and reminds me of the difficulties that the Ukrainian people and my family are going through. Although I play under the neutral flag with a Russian passport, I have no relations with the terrorist state – I always talk about it on my social networks,” Veronika Miroshnichenko explains the situation. “I was born in Moscow, but spent my childhood there [Ukrainas pilsētā] in Zaporizhzhia. Mom, dad, grandma and grandpa are from Zaporizhia. I grew up in a Ukrainian family, but at the age of 11 I moved to the USA. I consider Ukraine to be my homeland, I am a Ukrainian with a Russian passport.”
In the first round of the doubles tournament in Guadalajara, Ukrainian Ludmila Kichenok faced off, who does not shake hands with neutral tennis players. “I’m not offended because I’m on Ukraine’s side. The only right option is not to shake hands,” admits Veronika Miroshnichenko. “I already had such a situation when I played against Yulia Starodubtseva [Ukraina]. Before the match, she wrote to me that she would not shake my hand.”
Why don’t you change your citizenship? “Now I’m actively working on changing citizenship, but it’s a complicated process. We’re collecting all the necessary documents. We’re working every day to get it done faster,” reveals the tennis player. “I dream of the day when I can finally throw away that Russian passport.”
At one time, Miroshnichenko represented Ukraine at the junior level. Registration at the adult level required a passport, but no Ukrainian citizenship. He studied at an American university and played only in the student championship for three years, so he is currently relatively low in the WTA ranking – #408 in singles, #238 in doubles.
Valeriya Strahova, representing Ukraine, regularly plays doubles in a duet with a neutral athlete and never with a Ukrainian, starting from February 24, 2022. During the mentioned period, the neutral athlete Veronika Miroshnichenko has played with two “neutrals”, but wants to be on the Ukrainian side.
Resources used:
btu.org.ua
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