Kamilla Rakhimova becomes latest Russian tennis player to switch nations as she now represents Uzbekistan

Kamilla Rakhimova has officially confirmed her switch from Russia to Uzbekistan and will now compete under the flag of her new nation.

Her mother was born in Uzbekistan and used to represent them at youth level, continuing the pattern in the family. Whilst being born in Yekaterinburg, Russia, Rakhimova has made the ultimate decision to switch sporting nationalities.

Formerly reaching a high of 60th in the world, Rakhimova now slots in as the Uzbekistan number one with a current ranking of 112 in the world. This leaves her outside of an automatic spot in the upcoming Australian Open. She is currently proudly representing her new nation at a WTA 125 event in France, looking to get the ranking points needed to push her up. After comfortably winning her first match against Russian Alina Korneeva, she is now in the round-of-16 as she looks to end 2025 with a bang.

It has been an inconsistent season. The positives mostly stem from a commendable grass swing. After qualifying for majority of the events, her best run came in the Eastbourne Open, where she was defeated in three sets to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. However, her best result came in the second round of Wimbledon, where she managed to get the better of last year's runner-up Jasmine Paolini before exiting in the third-round to Linda Noskova. Aside from that, she has not experienced too much joy. She struggled to get deep in many tournaments, which saw her plummet down the rankings. Nevertheless, a new chance has now arisen for her to climb back up the roster under a new flag.

“The arrival of Kamila Rakhimova to the Uzbekistan national team is an event of historic significance. She has already proven herself to be a strong, competitive tennis player capable of playing on equal terms with the world’s top players. We are delighted to welcome Kamila to our team and are confident that she will achieve great victories, go far, and set new records under the Uzbekistan flag,” said FTU Secretary General Sador Kamilov in a statement.

Rakhimova has not been the only tennis player in the past to switch Russia for a different country. Fellow Uzbekistan player Maria Timofeeva was also representing Russia at the start of the year. She officially jumped ship back in October, meaning she was prematurely Uzbekistan's number one player. 

It is not just jumping the border to represent different nations. Daria Kasatkina has swapped the Russian flag for Australia. This came in the wake of the Russia-Ukraine war and strict anti-LGBTQ+ laws, not making her feel comfortable or be herself. Thus, she has moved Down Under and now embracing her new life, thankful for the support she has received. She will soon be able to represent her home nation as an Aussie when tennis heads Down Under at the start of 2026. She has not competed since the China Open after a barren spell on the court. She cited mental and physical exhaustion from the amount of tennis played, but will be raring to go as she is set to compete in the Brisbane International.

Outside of 2025, Varvara Gracheva made the permanent move to France in 2023, Elina Avanesyan hopped to Armenia in 2024 while Natela Dzalamidze started representing Georgia in 2022. Kazakhstan stars Elena Rybakina and Yulia Putintseva are also Russian-born, but started representing Kazakhstan early in their professional careers.