From Agence France-Presse
South Africa’s Kevin Anderson has revealed he is set to take US citizenship and have dual nationality later this year.
Anderson, who lives in Delray Beach in Florida and is married to an American, applied for US citizenship two years ago and the world number 17 expects the process to be completed in the next few months.
The 29-year-old, currently playing in the Wimbledon warm-up event at Queen’s Club in west London, said he would also retain his South African passport.
“Yeah, the process is underway. Hopefully I will be approved and have US citizenship in the summer,” Anderson told reporters on Wednesday.
“I’ll keep my African citizenship and hopefully have the dual citizenship.”
Anderson enjoyed his best win of the year on Wednesday when he defeated French Open champion Stan Wawrinka 7-6, (7/4), 7-6 (13/11) in the Queen’s second round with a dynamic display that showed why his citizenship decision provoked such controversy in South Africa.
The South African number one has been criticised for refusing to play for his country’s Davis Cup team since 2011 to leave open a potential switch to the USA squad.
But that path was blocked recently when the International Tennis Federation passed a resolution that means a player will be allowed to represent only one country at senior level during his career.
The ruling replaced one that had previously allowed a player to switch allegiance from one country to another at international level after a period of three years, during which the player would not play for his or her original country.
“It’s just a matter of logistics, really. I’m not switching and playing for the US,” Anderson added.
“I’m still going to play for South Africa. Just more having that option, as well.”
Anderson could now feature for South Africa against Ireland in their Davis Cup relegation playoff for the Europe/Africa Zone Group 2 in July.
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