March 17, (THEWILL) – Alexandr Dolgopolov, a former Ukrainian tennis player, who chose to protect his nation in the ongoing confrontation with Russia by taking up arms has stated the rationale behind his decision.
On Wednesday, the 33-year-old revealed on social media that he had returned to Kyiv, ready to fight, after fleeing to Turkey with his mother and sister at the outset of the assault, when the Vladimir Putin-led forces began to hit targets.
In a recent exclusive, Dolgopolov disclosed that he had received weapons training as part of his preparation and explained why he wanted to return to Ukraine to fight against the invasion.
“It was my decision and no one can stop me with my decisions. My father was sad. It was tough when we split. He was very worried and obviously no one wanted me to be here.
“But that’s the reality. It’s war. What can we do? I’m sure that no one from our guys wants to die or be in this war, but it’s our land.”
Dolgopolov also talked about the “panic” he felt in the early days of the Russian invasion, and how he felt obligated to send his family to Turkey, where they would be secure, but yet felt forced to return at some point.
“I preferred to stay out of the country. And if something happened, I could really help in the social media way because I have many followers from around the world to show the truth because I have access to all the information inside the country.
“I thought I would be more useful outside of the country for the first few days because obviously I’m not in the army, I’m not going to be the first one fighting. And then after a few days, once it settled down, the fights got understandable where we were doing good, where we were doing not very good. And then I started to plan to go back.
“I had no idea how to hold a weapon, so I found a shooting place and I was lucky that there was an ex-military professional, who taught me for five, six or seven days.
“So now I’m comfortable with weapons. I can shoot, not perfectly but for sure I can hit a person if I see one and I’m more confident. And then I set up coming back.”
Dolgopolov believes that his and other well-known athletes’ profiles are vital in increasing awareness of the war, and he encourages people to join him in defending the country.
“The soldiers are fighting, but they need to know what they’re fighting for. If everyone leaves the country, leaves their homes and there’s an empty city just of soldiers, how are they going to really have the motivation to fight until the end?
“I think it’s important that famous people and well-known people show that Ukrainians are supporting the army. Even if they’re not fighting, they can find money, they can speak in the media, they can bring food, medical stuff. Whatever anyone can do is helpful.
“I think that being here really sends a message and I see many guys from sports or singers and all kinds of famous people from our country have stayed or are coming back to help out.”
As THEWILL repeated, most sporting organisations have elected to ban Russian competitors during the ongoing conflict, but tennis chose to take a different route. Russian and Belarussian players are currently permitted to compete on both the ATP and WTA tours, although not under the Russian flag.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
