Now that President Trump Sides with Putin, Will Tennis Officials Ban the American Flag from Player Profiles?

Russian and Belarusian athletes haven't been able to play under their flags since Russia invaded Ukraine three years ago. Now that US policy is pro-Putin, will American players face the same fate?

Madison Keys reached a career-high No. 5 this week. She joined Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula, giving the United States three women in the Top 5. Check out the WTA Tour’s Ranking page; each player has an American flag next to their pretty picture.

Could that, should that, change?

Aryna Sabalenka is the No. 1 player in the world. She’s from Belarus but has a blank spot next to her picture. Mirra Andreeva, 17, recently became the youngest player in the Top 10. She’s Russian and has a blank space next to her name. That’s because the ATP and WTA decided players from those two countries should not be allowed to represent the aggressors who invaded, bombed, and murdered tens of thousands of Ukrainians.

This week, President Donald Trump split with European allies and refused to blame Russia for its invasion of Ukraine. Under Trump, the US sided with Russia and North Korea in opposing UN Resolutions that called for Russia’s immediate withdrawal from Ukraine.

Trump called the Ukrainian President a “dictator” while refusing to categorize Putin as such. He’s blamed Ukraine for the continued war. Given this turn of events, should US players get the vacant flag treatment?

If the WTA and ATP are consistent, they must remove the flags from American bios or restore them to Russians and Belarusians.

Of course, the US didn’t invade Ukraine, but the White House stands with Russia, just like Belarus. The US President is now siding with the Russians and bad-mouthing Ukrainians.

Ukrainian players Elina Svitolina and Marta Kostyuk have refused to shake hands with players from Russia and Belarus. Will Kostyuk refuse to shake hands with American players? Why not? Trump’s transactional approach to resolving the war and his admiration of Putin are the biggest threats to Ukraine since the invasion.

When Wimbledon banned Russian and Belarusian players from competing, Sabalenka opposed the move, stating that she had no control over the actions of her country’s leaders.

"I'm just really disappointed sport is somehow in politics," Sabalenka told BBC Sports. "We're just athletes playing their sport. That's it. We're not about politics. If all of us could do something [about the war], we would do it, but we have zero control.”

How is Gauff less responsible for her government's political stance than Sabalenka? The American President has more power than the President of Belarus.

French President Emmanuel Macron had to fact-check Trump in real-time when he blamed Ukraine for the war from the Oval Office. British Prime Minister Keir Stammer is scheduled to meet with Trump and plead for support of Ukraine. Macron and Stammer are leaders from countries that host two of the four Majors — the French Open and Wimbledon.

The New York Times' Dan Sheldon wrote about the prospect of the Russian football team being invited back to international competition. The Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) and the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), suspended the Russians.

It is important to note that there is no doubt Russia started the war by invading Ukraine, and Zelensky was democratically elected in 2019. Elections were due to be held in 2024 but were suspended under martial law due to the invasion.

But the U.S. President’s comments have kickstarted a discussion in sport about Russia being allowed back into the fold if a peace deal is struck. How would that happen? And how far away are they from potentially returning to international football? — Dan Sheldon, New York Times.

Wimbledon was the most high-profile event to ban Russians and Belarusians from competing, but it was not the only one. In 2023, Russian and Belarusian players were banned from competing in a WTA tournament in Prague.

Now that Trump has gift-wrapped Ukraine to Putin, will Keys, Gauff, Pegula, Emma Navarro, Taylor Townsend, and Sofia Kenin be banned from competing in Prague? If not, why not?

Tennis officials need to address this and issue a statement. They need to fight the US as hard as they did against Russia, Belarus, and Naomi Osaka. Otherwise, tennis authorities risk appearing to be committed to a tribe rather than the right side of history; their stance on the war rendered as relevant as phantom flags.