If you’ve watched a Grand Slam in the last couple of years, you might have noticed something missing next to Aryna Sabalenka’s name on the scoreboard. No, it’s not a glitch in the matrix, and no, the broadcast team didn’t just forget to upload a JPEG. It’s a blank space where a flag should be. Since 2022, Sabalenka—along with every other tennis player from Russia and Belarus—has been competing as a “neutral athlete.”

It’s an awkward, politically charged situation that feels less like sports and more like a bizarre episode of The Twilight Zone. But while other players are jumping ship and swapping nationalities faster than I swap loadouts in Call of Duty, Sabalenka is digging her heels in. She’s sticking with Belarus, flag or no flag. And honestly? You have to respect the grit, even if the

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