[tjohansson]

Has their been any major defections from one country to another by any big player in the history of tennis?. I know some have changed alliegances like Dustin Brown from Jamaica to Germany due to the lack of funding in Jamaican Tennis and Alex Bogomolov Jr recently from United States to Russia where he had to repay 75k to the USTA for switching over and less notably Amer Delic from USA to the Bahamas but any bigger names? Not including any players who were allied to Yugoslavia because that was a forced thing cause Yugoslavia broke up.

I do know Tomic threatened to switch to Germany or Croatia, Can't remember which one after Australian Tennis banned him for a month for walking off court and the rife between him and Lleyton also after he rejected a hitting session but thankfully it was only an empty threat.

Any names that can be thrown around?

 

[Intheshadows]

I was going to make a joke about Nick Lindahl.

Looked him up and apparently he is back under the Australian flag.

Tennis really don't care about switching allegiances then hey.

Lindahl has gone from Australia to Sweden to Australia in 18 months LOL.

Other sports are a lot more punitive. Tim Cahill played an under 18s game for Samoa when he was like 15 and that made him ineligible for Australia until FIFA changed the rules in the early 2000s.

It would be interesting if any of these players were good enough for the olympics. Would the IOC recognise Bogomolov as Russian if they decided to put him forward for London? I doubt they would.

 

[MaratandMilos]

Greg Rusedski.

 

[Nixer]

Delic changed to Bosnia & Herzegovina

and here's the thread for this question:
http://www.menstennisforums.com/showthread.php?t=171959

 

[pesto]

All the Kazakhs.

But Greg, with a high rank of 4, must be one of the biggest names. And it represented a true life change - living in Britain, marrying a Brit, etc.

I thought at one time there was talk about Tommy Haas changing to represent USA, but he's still down as German on the ATP.

 

[Nixer]

All the Kazakhs.

But Greg, with a high rank of 4, must be one of the biggest names. And it represented a true life change - living in Britain, marrying a Brit, etc.

I thought at one time there was talk about Tommy Haas changing to represent USA, but he's still down as German on the ATP.

I think Ivan Lendl is no doubt the biggest name

 

[pesto]

Ah yes, of course he is. How could I forget?

 

[BrunoBeidacki]

Luczak, Velotti, Lindell... not big ones.

 

[FiBeR]

Luczak, Velotti, Lindell... not big ones.

:scratch: do you mean Collarini?

 

[DanaKz]

Has their been any major defections from one country to another by any big player in the history of tennis?. I know some have changed alliegances like Dustin Brown from Jamaica to Germany due to the lack of funding in Jamaican Tennis and Alex Bogomolov Jr recently from United States to Russia where he had to repay 75k to the USTA for switching over and less notably Amer Delic from USA to the Bahamas but any bigger names? Not including any players who were allied to Yugoslavia because that was a forced thing cause Yugoslavia broke up.

Ex-Yugoslavia and Bosnians Leading Europian Youngsters don't approve.

 

[tommyg6]

Greg Rusedski.

He should've been barred in competing at the Rogers Cup.

 

[yesh222]

Didn't Haas flip between US and German for a bit?

 

[yesh222]

I'll give you a tiny nationality defection that actually mattered this year: Jesse Levine is Canadian (grew up in Ottawa). I once heard the story why he switched countries but don't remember. He just won the USTA Wild Card for the Australian Open.

 

[sports freak]

Roger Federer lived in Aust for a couple of years,imagined if he had stayed!

 

[DanaKz]

The biggest "switch" mystery for me is this kid Sean Berman's story. This is really odd. He was Australian when he reached Junior AO final, he was provided by WC to AO MD as Australian, but in ITF database he is under US flag. He was an American in ITF DB then and he is still American. And he is Aussie on AO oficial site

The funniest thing that he was born in South Africa.

http://www.itftennis.com/mens/players/player.asp?player=100095820
http://2011.australianopen.com/en_AU/players/overview/atpbh04.html