LONDON:
World primary Iga Swiatek has referred to as for more support to be presented to Ukrainian players at the girls’s excursion after Lesia Tsurenko mentioned she withdrew from her fit in opposition to Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka at Indian Wells because of a panic assault.
Tsurenko mentioned the assault was once precipitated through a talk she had with WTA Chief Executive Steve Simon about tennis’s reaction to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Belarus has been a key staging flooring for what Moscow calls a “special military operation”.
Poland’s Swiatek, who wears a Ukrainian flag on her cap right through fits, has in the past condemned Russia’s invasion and mentioned the motion taken through the tennis management had now not been sufficient.
“I totally understand why she withdrew, because honestly I respect Ukrainian girls so much. If a bomb landed in my country or if my home was destroyed, I don’t know if I could handle that and compete,” Swiatek mentioned.
“You have to really mentally be there to compete every week. So I get that she wasn’t ready to do that. I feel more should be done to help Ukrainian players because everything we discuss in tennis is about Belarusian and Russian players, if they should be allowed, what’s going on with them. I don’t think that’s right, because we should focus more on helping Ukrainian players and providing them everything they need because they basically have to take care of all their families, and there’s a lot of baggage on their shoulders.”
Swiatek had additionally criticised Anastasia Potapova after she sparked outrage through dressed in a T-shirt of Russian football staff Spartak Moscow prior to her fit in opposition to Jessica Pegula.
Swiatek mentioned such eventualities can have simply been have shyed away from. “At the beginning we didn’t have proper leadership to guide us through all of that,” Swiatek mentioned.
“There’s a lot of tension in the locker room that obviously is going to be there because there’s a war. But maybe it should be a little bit less if WTA put some action at the beginning to explain to everybody what’s right and what’s not.”
