“Not enough has been done” Elina Svitolina cites ‘poor understanding of the situation in Ukraine’ as the reason for tennis authorities showing little support to the country
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Elina Svitolina, WTA Chief Steve Simon, ATP Chief Andrea Gaudenzi
Former World No. 3 Elina Svitolina has been long fighting to bring attention to her war-torn Ukraine as the aggressive attempts by Russia to take control of the country have continued for more than 3 months now as the war started on 24th February 2022. As a result of the war, many families have been displaced and migrated and the loss of human life and collateral damage within the country is insurmountable.
Svitolina could not manage to play on the Tour during this difficult time for her entire country and is currently on a break from tennis. The Ukrainian like many others has been a strong advocate of banning the Russians and Belarusians from all possible avenues including tennis but to her misfortune, the tennis authorities other than that at the LTA and Wimbledon in the UK have not imposed a ban. The Russian and Belarusian tennis federations remain suspended while the players from the two nations play as neutral athletes without their country’s flags.
“They do not want to meet halfway” Elina Svitolina on the tennis authorities being adamant
Apart from the suspension of the tennis federations and removing the names of the country with their flags from the official sites, no other restrictions have been applied by the WTA and ATP. With Wimbledon announcing the ban, ATP and WTA made an announcement to remove points from this year’s Wimbledon as they found the decision to be discriminatory.
“Am I satisfied with the reaction of tennis organizations, in particular, on the issue of banning Russian players from playing? I think that not enough has been done at all. And in this direction too. The announcements made by the tennis organizations weren’t good enough. I believe that little was said in support of the Ukrainians.
“I, along with other Ukrainian players, have been many times at meetings with top officials of tennis organizations. Unfortunately, they do not fully understand the whole situation that is happening in Ukraine, and, unfortunately, they do not want to meet halfway,” said Elina as per BTU.
“All this knocked me out of my usual focus” Elina Svitolina on her break from tennis
Elina was in Doha when the war broke out and her family remained stuck there for a while before she could evacuate her parents. But she revealed that many other members of her family are still in Ukraine and the times are quite difficult for everyone in this situation as the war continues to be waged.
“I had a very difficult period. Especially at the beginning of the war. A few days before that, I found out that I was pregnant, and then the war began. All this was very difficult to endure psychologically. Already after 5 days, I performed in Mexico, and then there were two big tournaments in the US There was a lot of pressure and all this knocked me out of my usual focus.
“After 10 days of the war, my parents were able to leave Odessa, but the other part of the family, aunt, uncle, grandmother, they remained in Odessa. They won’t leave. My Grandmother is already at an advanced age, so it is difficult for her to move around. I am in touch every day, I try to support them, because mentally this is all very difficult, especially for people who have already developed a routine.
“My parents are in Monaco now, I see them quite often. Now I really appreciate this time. The war has united us all very much, they are very worried and want to return to Ukraine, return to their normal life,” added Svitolna in her interview with BTU.
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Sarthak Shitole
(3462 Articles Published)