Russian-born tennis player wins first match as French citizen

PARIS (BBC): Russian-born Varvara Gracheva has won the first match she played since becoming a French citizen.

Gracheva, 22, was born in Moscow but has lived and trained in France for six years. She beat Romanian Jacqueline Cristian 6-2 6-2 at the Bad Homburg Open in Germany on Monday.

World number 43 Gracheva becomes the French women’s number two and will represent her new country when Wimbledon starts on 3 July.

She played at the French Open in May but was not listed as French as she had not yet received her French passport. Russian and Belarusian players will be allowed to compete at this year’s Wimbledon, but players must abide by strict rules set out by the All England Club.

In 2022, Russian doubles player Natela Dzalamidze competed at Wimbledon after changing her nationality to represent Georgia. Gracheva told the Daily Mail in March that her application to switch nationalities was made before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. In the same month, Gracheva was beaten in the final of the ATX Open by Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk, who refused to shake her hand.