A former Ukrainian tennis player joins the defense of kyiv
Various Ukrainian athletes are in Ukraine, defending their country.
Alex Dolgopolov, a 33-year-old former Ukrainian tennis player, returned to the country to be part of the armed defense of the city of his birth, Kiev. The athlete communicated it through digital platforms.
The athlete became number 13 in the world in 2012. During his career, he won three titles in the Association of Professional Tennis Players (ATP) circuit. In 2021, Dolgopolov retired from tennis, due to repeated wrist injuries.
On his Instagram profile, Dolgopolov greeted Kiev and reported that he returned to help in any way he can to defend his country.
Likewise, he published on his Twitter profile a photograph in which a bulletproof vest can be seen, along with a rifle and a helmet. He made reference in the message he published with the photo that, before, it was strings and rackets, and now it is this.
In this profile, the nicknamed " The Dog " has been making various complaints on Twitter, indicating that the Russian forces carry out constant attacks on families who are unarmed and also rape women.
In this way, Dolgopolov joins Sergiy Stakhovsky, 36, a former tennis player from Ukraine, who hopes not to have to use a firearm. However, he already claimed to know how to use it.
Stakhovsky is first recognized for beating Roger Federer in 2013, in the second round at Wimbledon. Like Dolgopolov and other athletes, he also returned to Kiev to participate in his defense.
The mayor of Kiev, Ukrainian boxing and sports legend Vitali Klitschko, also remains on the defense, along with his brother Vladimir, a former boxer and world heavyweight champion, for a long time.