Sunday Tribune

Migrants and morals leading the way

DEBORAH CURTIS-SETCHELL

Deborah Curtis-setchell

TWO stories are currently chasing international headlines: One is the saga of Chinese doubles star Peng Shuai, exercising her democratic right to freedom of speech in a country that doesn’t allow it. The other is the wave of illegal migrants, fleeing non-democratic regimes, gathering on the French coast in search of freedom in the UK.

The latter may seem irrelevant to tennis, but contemplate this: Joanna Konta, the former British No 1, retired this week after battling injury, contracting Covid and slumping from world No 4, to somewhere beyond the top 100.

Konta’s parents are Hungarian and immigrated first to Australia, where their daughter honed her tennis talent, and then to England.

The fact is no British female has achieved what Konta has achieved over the past 30 years: 4 WTA titles and a semi-finalist in three different Grand Slams, including Wimbledon. Konta is bowing out to the new British No 1 and US Champion – the first since 1977 – Emma Raducanu, who was born in Toronto to a mother who happens to be Chinese and a father who is Romanian.

They left their respective countries in search of a better life for their

daughters and Britain has benefited enormously from their collective decisions.

Meanwhile in Madrid, two brothers who hail from Ethiopia, Mikael and Elias Ymer, inspired as youths by watching the humble Stefan Edberg, have carried Sweden, their adopted country, to the quarter-finals of the Davis Cup finals.

The fact they succumbed to the indomitable Russian Federation singles team of Daniil Medvedev and Andrey Rublev, ranked way above them, in no way diminishes their patriotic contribution. Sweden by the way have won the Davis Cup seven times and hold the record for the most “come-backs”.

I’m not comparing the Ymer brothers to Swedish-born Bjorn Borg, who won 33 consecutive matches in his Davis Cup forays, but one wonders how European sport would fare without immigrants, both legal and illegal.

Borg’s best friend is Iranian tennis star Mansour Bahrami, who fled Iran and paced the streets of Paris as an illegal immigrant, before obtaining dual citizenship and assisting French President Macron in getting elected, on the migrant issue.

On the subject of overcoming odds, if not authorities, Croatia stunned Serbia in their semi-final, by beating the latter team favoured to win and propped up by World No 1 Novak

Djokovic.

This will be Croatia’s fourth Davis Cup final appearance – they were the first unseeded nation to win the Davis Cup in 2005 when they beat Slovakia.

To be fair to Djokovic, he comfortably toppled former World No 3, Marin Cilic, in their singles match. It was his teammate, Dusan Lajovic, who was beaten by rank outsider Borno Gojo in the second singles of the tie, that upset the Serbian apple cart. It was then down to the deciding doubles and Djokovic and Filip Krajonovic failed to hold off Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic, who held their nerve to capitalise on this unanticipated opportunity.

I suspect Croatia, no matter how buoyant they are post this upset, are unlikely to hold off Germany or the Russian Federation (the other semi-final contenders).

However the off court victory goes to the WTA CEO, Steve Simon. Simon followed through on threats to boycott Chinese tournaments in the wake of Shuai’s disappearance, contrived reappearance and suspected government manipulation, after she accused an official of sexual assault.

What started as a storm in a tea cup has developed into a tsunami of biblical proportions as the WTA has set a precedent in putting principle ahead of profit and suspended all their events in China. In financially shooting themselves in the foot, their brave stance is all the more laudable, and with the Beijing Winter Olympics around the corner, much is at stake.

The question is, will other sporting bodies like the IOC dare to demonstrate support to the extent of boycotting these games? Leading tennis players are already ahead of the game in lending their weight: Djokovic, Serena Williams and Andy Murray. I hope Shuai defects to America … they could use a good doubles player!

SPORT

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2021-12-05T08:00:00.0000000Z

2021-12-05T08:00:00.0000000Z

https://sundaytribune.pressreader.com/article/281788517346874

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