It's not that Andrey Rublev wasn't pleased with the match he'd just won Friday, propelling him to the finals of the Dubai Tennis Championships. But he'd said the day before that he considered other issues more pressing, ESPN reports. "In these moments, you realize that my match is not important," the Russian star said. "What's happening is much more terrible." So before leaving the court, as his country's troops advanced on Ukraine, he wrote "No War Please" on a TV camera.
Players often leave their signature or a message on a camera after a victory, per Bleacher Report. Rublev, who's ranked seventh in the world, defeated Hubert Hurkacz of Poland, 3-6, 7-5, 7-6 (5) to earn a spot in the tournament's final on Saturday. Daniil Medvedev, Rublev's countryman who's on his way to becoming No. 1, also spoke up for peace this week. "By being a tennis player I want to promote peace all over the world," Medvedev said Thursday at the Mexican Open, adding, "It's just not easy to hear all this news."
The flags of Ukraine and Poland were displayed in the crowd during the Hurkacz-Rublev match. Poland is one of the countries taking in refugees from Ukraine. "You realize how important (it) is to have peace in the world and to respect each other no matter what, to be united," Rublev said. "We should take care of our Earth and of each other. This is the most important thing." The Tennis Podcast tweeted a photo of the message here. (More men's tennis stories.)
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