John Isner is an American former ATP player who is also one of the co-hosts of the Nothing Major podcast. He is a trusted voice in tennis media and has done work for the Tennis Channel and Barstool Sports among others.
However, his Thursday afternoon comment to his 275,000 Twitter followers created more attention than he probably either wanted or expected.
What John Isner Said
Isner posted: “Can the Russian tennis players get their flag back? Bit ridiculous now.”
When a few posters agreed with him, he added that the whole thing was “lame.”
Others commented about ending the lack of postmatch handshakes also between the Ukranian and Russian/Belarusian players.
One also talked about showing up at a tennis tournament with a white square flag to represent the currently flagless ones, and another joked that the players should be able to pick a flag (for television purposes) and suggested that Rublev pick a pirate one.
There was plenty of banter about keeping politics out of tennis until the Ukranian Tennis BTU got involved.
What Ukranian Tennis BTU Posted
As this policy of not showing the Russia and Belarus flags stems from the ongoing Ukranian war, it is not surprising that Isner received an emotional response from the Ukranian Tennis BTU.
It read as follows:
“Absolutely disgraceful to wake up after a horrific night of attacks – with your child trembling in fear in the bathroom while Russian drones explode near your home – and see a tweet about the “importance” of returning flags to Russian tennis players. John, come spend a few nights in Kyiv, Kharkiv, Dnipro, or Odesa – then post your tweet about flags. Even after four years of Russia killing innocent Ukrainians and destroying our country, there are still people who think the priority is to give them back their flags… not to stop the killing.”
When others challenged the Ukranian BTU about the players involvement in this brutal war, a follow-on post was shared.
“It’s truly strange that we even have to explain the obvious: a flag under which a brutal and devastating war is being waged has no place at peaceful sporting events. The fact that this needs to be said is shocking — and only shows how disconnected from reality some people are when they’re far away from the war.”
USA Today‘s Dan Wolken Attempted To Reframe The Conversation
As you can imagine, Isner’s one sentence comment sent Tennis Twitter blazing for hours. Dan Wolken of the USA Today tried to gain consensus and reframe the chat.
He said: “John, if you want to argue removing the flag in international sports is meaningless and ineffective as a response to war, you can reasonably do that. But it was removed because their country invaded a sovereign nation. It would be more ridiculous to restore it while the war is still ongoing.”
To which, John Isner posted that he would argue that it was a meaningless response.
It is obvious that this is a hot button issue that has no resolution in sight until the war ends, but in the meantime, we will see if any current or former players join Isner on the Tennis Twitter debate.
