ITF President Francesco Ricci Bitti released a statement clarifying his position on the nationality of players from Crimea, following a story by a Russian news agency which quoted him saying that those from the disputed region could compete for Russia.
Russia's ITAR-TASS news agency spoke to the longtime ITF official at the Fed Cup tie between Russia and Germany.
Crimea, located in the Ukraine, has seen recent Russian military intervention. "Crimea is a part of Russia," Ricci Bitti was quoted as saying in the story. "Crimean tennis players can without any problems play for Russia's national teams and represent the country at any tournaments. I do not see a problem here."
Ricci Bitti said he wanted "refute the quotes attributed to me," stating, "Tennis is an individual sport and a Crimean player is free to represent any country for which he or she holds a passport. ITF team competitions have additional eligibility rules clearly laid out in the regulations. I believe that sport cannot disregard the political environment but should not be used for political purposes."
Ukraine's Sergiy Stakhovsky criticized the comments, but then said the statement had resolved his objection.