Top-seeded Elina Svitolina, a 27-year-old skilled tennis participant from Ukraine, says she is going to withdraw from the Monterrey Open relatively than face a Russian opponent on the Mexican match except tennis’s governing our bodies comply with the International Olympic Committee’s lead and demand that gamers from Russia and Belarus are solely recognized as “neutral athletes.”
Svitolina wrote Monday on Twitter that she didn’t wish 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’ rivals from utilizing any nationwide symbols, colours, flags or anthems.
#Ukraine #країна #StandWithUkriane pic.twitter.com/1LT4WjrYI9
— Elina Monfils (@ElinaSvitolina) February 28, 2022
The Russian navy assault on Ukraine was into 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’ve 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 “would like to express our great surprise and dissatisfaction with the lack of any response to the situation with our Motherland.”
@wta @WTA_insider @ATPMediaInfo @atptour @OlympicUA @olympicchannel @Olympics pic.twitter.com/Xee3xpak2r
— Lesia Tsurenko (@LTsurenko) February 28, 2022
Tsurenko, a quarterfinalist on the 2018 US Open who’s been ranked as excessive as No. 23 and is No. 127 this week, referred to as on the WTA to instantly condemn the Russian authorities.
The ITF mentioned it has canceled its occasions on Russian soil “indefinitely,” and no occasions can be scheduled in Belarus this yr. It additionally postponed an occasion 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 mentioned in an announcement issued Monday.
“Right now, our precedence stays the protection of all these collaborating in our occasions. We will in fact be offering extra info as quickly as potential.” The WTA and ATP didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark from The Associated Press.
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With inputs from TheIndianEXPRESS
