Victoria Azarenka mentioned on the US Open on Saturday that sexual abuse of younger feminine gamers by older male coaches occurs “right and left” on the WTA Tour and prevention needs to be a precedence.
Azarenka’s feedback come after French participant Fiona Ferro’s former coach Pierre Buterre was accused of rape and sexual assault in France on Thursday when she was a young person between 2012 and 2015, in line with AFP.
Boutre’s lawyer informed AFP {that a} relationship had taken place however denied any coercion. The lawyer mentioned Butere, 50, described the connection as “a true love story”. Azarenka, who sits on the eight-member WTA participant council, mentioned combating abuse was the group’s high precedence.
“We see vulnerable young women who (are) being taken advantage of in different situations,” she mentioned.
“It’s really sad and really makes me emotional,” she mentioned. “If I had a daughter, I would have a question whether she would like to play tennis, that would be of great concern to me.”
Former primary Azarenka, who reached the fourth spherical of the match on Saturday, praised Ferro’s bravery. Ferro, 25, received two WTA titles and rose to world quantity 39 final yr, however is at present ranked 259 and misplaced throughout a match qualifier final week.
“I hope she comes out of this situation stronger and tennis won’t be ruined for her,” Azarenka mentioned. He urged the journalists to do their half to reveal the misbehavior on the press convention. “Do research, help people to open up more. Hopefully will try to eliminate such situations one by one.”
Czech Karolina Pliskova, one other former world primary, was uncertain whether or not the ladies’s tennis physique might be of a lot assist, saying she felt it was the duty of oldsters to make sure that gamers weren’t abused.
21-year-old Inga Swietake, present world primary, mentioned she had by no means confronted such a state of affairs and was conserving religion within the WTA.
“I hope that if something like this happens, we are going to be safe and trust the WTA that they are going to take care of this stuff properly,” mentioned the two-time French Open champion. “I’m sure they do.”
With inputs from TheIndianEXPRESS
