"In any case, there are no heavy losses for us": Russian Tennis Chief says Gracheva defecting to France wouldn't be a loss

Russian Tennis Boss Shamil Tarpischev briefly commented on the news of Gracheva opting to switch nationalities claiming it's not a huge loss for the country.

The Russian has been playing her best tennis this year with a top 50 breakthrough sealed for next Monday. News broke today that Gracheva is in the process of switching nationalities to France after living in the country since 2016. She's been based in Cannes since then and is now opting to represent them which is at least partly influenced due to the uncertainty of Russian sports lately.

Tarpischev was asked about it in Turkey and he briefly commented on the news explaining that he was unaware of the switch but it wouldn't be a huge loss:

“While I am at the training camp in Turkey, I have no information about the transition of Varvara Gracheva, so I can’t comment on anything. In any case, there are no heavy losses for us. There are certain circumstances. We have a lot of talented guys. We are working for the next generation.”

Gracheva will battle Kvitova for a plce in the quarter-final of the Miami Masters.