Belarusian two-time Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka has pulled out of a “tennis Play for Peace exhibition” to boost humanitarian assist for Ukraine, the United States Tennis Association (USTA) stated on Wednesday.
With the US Open set to start on Monday, the event’s initiative was to start on Wednesday – Ukraine Independence Day – with an exhibition occasion on the Louis Armstrong Stadium that included girls’s world No. 1 Inga Swietake, Rafa Nadal, John McEnroe and others. Will be
Ukrainian gamers comparable to Marta Kostyuk had been sad that that they had not been made conscious of, or consulted with, Azarenka’s participation within the occasion, particularly being held on Ukraine’s Independence Day.
Belarus is getting used as a platform for Russia’s warfare in Ukraine, which it has dubbed a “special military operation”.
“Over the past 24 hours, after careful consideration and dialogue with all parties involved, Victoria Azarenka will no longer participate in our “Tennis Play for Peace Exhibition” this night, the USTA stated in an announcement.
“Vika is a strong player leader and we appreciate her willingness to participate,” it stated. “Given the sensitivity of the Ukrainian players and the ongoing conflict, we believe this is the right course of action for us.”
Azarenka later addressed his boycott in a tweet, saying: “Never take the impact of a kind gesture.”
Tennis Play for Peace, which contains all seven of tennis’s governing our bodies together with 4 Grand Slam occasions, has raised greater than $1 million in humanitarian assist and likewise exceeded $1.2 million in funds raised for Ukraine reduction to the US Open. helped to do.
One hundred p.c of ticket income from the occasion was donated to GlobalGiving’s Ukraine Crisis Relief Fund, which helps humanitarian assist to affected communities in Ukraine and surrounding areas the place Ukrainian refugees have fled.
Russian and Belarusian gamers had been banned from enjoying at Wimbledon, however can be allowed to compete at Flushing Meadows within the ultimate Grand Slam event of the season, which runs from 29 August to 11 September.
With inputs from TheIndianEXPRESS
