Another Russian switches citizenship as French tennis gains a top 100 player
WTAThursday, 17 September 2026 at 21:30
Daria Kasatkina, Anastasia Potapova are just a few of the big Russian names who have decided to change their nationality in the past year from Russian and now France has a new Russian player to add to their ranks after the confirmation that Anna Blinkova will ditch her previous nationality.
According to RMC Sport who confirmed the news, the Moscow-born star who is 28 has changed her nationality after representing Russia since the start of her career.
But unlike perhaps others who have used it for other gain or perhaps don't have huge links to the countries they defect to, Blinkova does in this case with the now ex-Russian living in France for a number of years.
Blinkova has been based in Cannes for around 10 years and speaks French so in reality calls France her home anyway as opposed to the country of her birth. She trained there while learning French and has now decided to follow in the footsteps of Varvara Gracheva who became a French citizen in 2023.
🚨 ANNA BLINKOVA 🇫🇷 EST DÉSORMAIS FRANÇAISE !
— Univers Tennis 🎾 (@UniversTennis) September 17, 2026
Née à Moscou et ancienne 34e mondiale, la joueuse de 28 ans a été naturalisée française et apparaît désormais sous les couleurs tricolores au classement WTA. 🇫🇷
Actuellement 94e mondiale, elle devient la deuxième Française dans le… pic.twitter.com/AJbmChjkWn
Currently ranked World No.94, Blinkova is competing in the WTA 250 in Sao Paolo this week and will face Vendula Valdmannova. She becomes the second WTA player in the top 100 behind Diane Parry. Albeit Gracheva who also went down a similar route has previously struggled when it has come to getting into the Billie Jean King Cup team for instance.
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But it seems that in the case of Blinkova, she is doing it more not only due to the current red tape for Russians in parts of the world but given too that she technically doesn't live in the country most of the time anyway.
Samuel GillEditor-in-Chief
Samuel Gill is the Chief Content Officer (CCO) of TennisUpToDate.com, a role he has held since 2020. He is responsible for editorial governance across the platform, including setting content standards, overseeing accuracy and consistency, and guiding long-term editorial strategy. Since joining, he has contributed more than 10,000 articles and editorial pieces across the TennisUpToDate network, playing a central role in the daily operation and development of the site.
Based in Leicester, Samuel has a broad background in tennis media. In his current role, he works closely with editors and writers to ensure coverage meets clear journalistic standards, with particular attention to verification, consistency, and timely updates when new information becomes available.
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