Andreeva, June 6 -- She collapsed to the clay the moment it was over, arms out, face pressed against the red dirt of Philippe-Chatrier, while the crowd roared. Mirra Andreeva had just won the French Open. But when the trophy ceremony began and the stadium fell quiet for the customary national anthem, nothing came. No music. No flag. Just silence, and the weight of a war 2,800 miles away.

a dozen years that suddenly felt compressed into one afternoon.

The International Tennis Federation's wartime neutral-athlete policy, in place since March 2022, bars Russian and Belarusian players from competing under their national flag or anthem. Past editions of this tournament had passed without the rule being tested at the highest level. On Saturda...