"You can take her flag away, but in the end, the best players win" - Jimmy Connors' son Brett on Aryna Sabalenka's Australian Open 2023 triumph
Russia's invasion of Ukraine last year has made life on the tennis tour difficult for Aryna Sabalenka. Her country, Belarus, has been pro-Russia, which means she has had to suffer the consequences of various sanctions imposed on the two countries and their citizens.
In 2022, Russian and Belarusian players were barred from taking part in many tournaments, most notably the Wimbledon Championships. And while Sabalenka is being allowed to compete elsewhere, she is doing so under a 'neutral' flag.
Jimmy Connors' son Brett touched upon this topic in a recent episode of the Advantage Connors podcast. He expressed his displeasure at the intermingling of politics and sports, and said that the best players will always win the titles irrespective of where they hail from or who they support.
"All the stupid stuff with the politics and the flag. You can take her [Aryna Sabalenka] flag away, you can try and say she can't be proud of where she's from and all that shit. But in the end, the best tennis players are going to show up at the tournaments and win the matches and get to the finals and win the f*%$ing tournament," he opined.
Brett also found it ironical that Elena Rybakina, who was Russian until she switched to Kazakhstan in June 2018, took on Sabalenka in the 2023 Australian Open final.
"I don't like the war, I don't like any of that sh*t, but I think it's lame to blame athletes. And so it was pretty gratifying to see a girl born in Moscow playing a Belarusian girl. Battling it out at a sport, no politics. It was just a great tennis match between two really good women athletes," he expressed.
Jimmy Connors praises Aryna Sabalenka for her Australian Open performance
In the same podcast, former American tennis player and eight-time Grand Slam champion Jimmy Connors praised Aryna Sabalenka for her 2023 Australian Open triumph.
Connors also revealed that while he doesn't normally watch a lot of tennis, he did catch the Melbourne final between Sabalenka and Rybakina.
"It was a great Australian Open for her [Aryna Sabalenka], I'm happy for her. To be honest, I don't watch a whole lot of tennis but I do get involved in it. For me to sit down and to watch quite a bit of that match," he said.