Ukrainian tennis star Elina Svitolina refuses to play Russian opponent except tennis excursions act
Top-seeded Elina Svitolina, a 27-year-old skilled tennis participant from Ukraine, stated she wouldn’t play her spherical of 32 match towards Russia’s Anastasia Potapova within the Monterrey Open except tennis’ governing our bodies adopted the suggestions made by the International Olympic Committee.
Svitolina wrote on Twitter that she didn’t need to play her opening-round contest towards Anastasia Potapova “nor any other match against Russian or Belarussian tennis players until” the WTA girls’s tour, ATP males’s tour and International Tennis Federation “follow the recommendations of the IOC” and bar these international locations’ opponents from utilizing any nationwide symbols, colours, flags or anthems.
#Ukraine # #StandWithUkriane pic.twitter.com/1LT4WjrYI9
— Elina Monfils (@ElinaSvitolina) February 28, 2022
The Russian army assault on Ukraine was on its fifth day.
“I do not blame any of the Russian athletes,” Svitolina wrote. “They are not responsible for the invasion of our motherland.”
Svitolina is a two-time Grand Slam semifinalist with 16 profession tour-level singles titles who has been ranked as excessive as No. 3 and is presently No. 15.
Another tennis participant from Ukraine, 32-year-old Lesia Tsurenko, wrote on Twitter that she and others “want to specific our nice shock and dissatisfaction with the shortage of any response to the scenario in our Motherland.”
Tsurenko, a quarterfinalist at the 2018 U.S. Open who’s been ranked as high as No. 23 and is No. 127 this week, called on the WTA to immediately condemn the Russian government.
The ITF said it has canceled its events on Russian soil “indefinitely,” and no events would be scheduled in Belarus this year. It also postponed an event scheduled for Ukraine in April, citing “heightened security concerns.”
“This is a fast-evolving situation. We are constantly monitoring events and remain in active discussion with the ITF tennis family, the ITF Board and security experts to decide and align around our next course of action. We stand united with the population of Ukraine,” the ITF said in a statement issued Monday.
“Right now, our priority remains the safety of all those participating in our events. We will of course be providing more information as soon as possible.”
