Lesia Tsurenko admits to being affected by the misery of Ukraine after her loss against Iga Swiatek
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Iga Swiatek, Lesia Tsurenko
Lesia Tsurenko, the former world number 23 from Ukraine, lost to Iga Swiatek in the first round of the French Open 2022. She has been quite unlucky in terms of her draws. She was up against the World number 1, Iga Swiatek, in Paris and at the Australian Open 2022 against the then world number 1, Ashleigh Barty, and lost in straight sets. After a stellar performance in the qualifying stages, she qualified for the main draw, and both the times, she met the top seed and was knocked in straight sets.
Tsurenko has not been able to perform in the tournaments as she would’ve expected to as there is another mental strain she is carrying. Due to ongoing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the people have been quite stressed out. Tsurenko, a Ukrainian, has many more reasons to be concerned for her country, the people, and even her relatives and loved ones in the country.
Lesia Tsurenko doesn’t care too much about the results anymore.
Tsurenko was not at her best against Swiatek, but Swiatek’s form has been so amazing these past months that she is currently on a 29-match win streak. Tsurenko wouldn’t be too hard on herself with the performance here at Stade Roland Garros. Tsurenko said about the ensuing Russia-Ukraine situation in the post-match press conference:
“I’ll be honest, I don’t feel great playing. My first idea was to go home when it all started, and I had a long conversation inside of me that should I stay and play or should I just go to Ukraine and try to help there in some way, I don’t know in which way, but just in some way.”
She admitted that the situation had affected her play these past months. She said:
“And it all affected Indian Wells and Miami a lot. And at that point I think when I played in Marbella and I finished and I had nowhere to go. It’s just, you know, the life is very questionable now. And I get probably it’s not the right word to say, but I get a lot of questions. You know, I have where to go, where to practice, where to live, should I continue playing. Just because I’m not 20 years old any more and I’m old enough to understand a little bit more about this world and I understand that there is something much bigger than just a tennis match.”
“So, yeah, it’s not very easy to be here. I just decided that I will continue playing and I will try to win some matches, I will try to enjoy. I don’t want to put too much pressure on myself. I just want to enjoy every match. But at the same time. I don’t feel that I care too much, you know. So I’m trying to find this balance between just go on court and don’t care versus try to care, you know.”
“In some cases it helps. Like, I don’t really put pressure on myself, I just go and play. But in some ways I just feel like, okay, whatever, I win or lose, whatever. It doesn’t matter really.”
Also Read: ‘Osaka finished?’ Amanda Anisimova knocks Naomi Osaka out in the first round of the 2022 French Open
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Prateek Sinha
(365 Articles Published)