Odesa: The top-ranked Ukrainian woman tennis player Elina Svitolina announced on Monday that she will not play Russian nor Belarusian tennis players in the tournament. She also chastised tennis’ governing organisations, coming after two of her countrymen slammed the WTA for failing to take a stand against Russia’s invasion of their nation.
World no. 15 was drawn to play Russian Anastasia Potapova in her first match. Two other Russians, Kamilla Rakhimova and Anna Kalinskaya are also in the draw.
“I want to announce that I will not play in Monterrey, nor any other match, against Russian or Belarusian tennis players, until our organizations take the necessary actions,” Svitolina wrote on Twitter.
“I do not blame Russian athletes,” she wrote. “I wish to pay tribute to all players, especially Russians and Belarusians, who bravely stated their position against the war. Their support is essential.”
✊🏼🇺🇦 #Ukraine #Україна #StandWithUkriane pic.twitter.com/1LT4WjrYI9
— Elina Monfils (@ElinaSvitolina) February 28, 2022
Svitolina was echoing two other Ukrainians, Marta Kostyuk, ranked 54th in the world, and Lesia Tsurenko, a former top-25 player now ranked 127, who both posted a letter on social media expressing “our great surprise and dissatisfaction with the lack of any response with the situation in our Motherland”.
“It is especially strange that in prior cases of social justice and sexual harassment the response of the WTA was prompt, appropriate and bold,” they wrote.
“We demand that WTA immediately condemn the Russian government, pull all tournaments out of Russia and approach the ITF to do the same.”
The Ukrainian tennis organisation demanded that Russia and Belarus be expelled from the European Tennis Federation and the International Tennis Federation in a letter sent on Sunday.
