‘Protest continues’ Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk walks off mid-match against Russian players during Doubles match in Rome

‘Protest continues’ Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk walks off mid-match against Russian players during Doubles match in Rome

Marta Kostyuk, Veronika Kudermetova, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova

World No. 59 in singles and 79 in doubles, Ukrainian pro Marta Kostyuk staged a protest of her during her Round of 16 match at the ongoing 2022 Italian Open. Marta had partnered with Romania’s Elena Gabriela Ruse and the pair were up against Russians Veronika Kudermetova and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.

Kostyuk has been one of the harshest critics of tennis authorities for allowing Russian and Belarusian players to continue playing on the Tour despite the two nations responsible for the ongoing war in Ukraine that has been going on for more than two months. Marta has time and again asked for the players of the two countries to be banned but apart from the LTA and Wimbledon, no other tennis body has followed the wishes of the Ukrainian players as only the tennis federations of Russia and Belarus are suspended as of now.

During the Italian Open, Marta and Elena lost the opening set 6-1 to the Russians in mere 26 minutes and the match looked headed to an early wrap. In the mandated break between the sets for the changeover, Marta moved to the locker room and reportedly left from there without returning to the court.

FS Video

The decision of her to give the ‘walkover’ was not communicated to the chair umpire who along with the Russian pair of Veronika and Anastasia and the spectators in the stands were left stranded with the umpire then declaring the Russians as the winner as Marta did not return to the court in the stipulated time.

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YouTube video

Marta Kostyuk made no comments after the match

Marta Kostyuk
Marta Kostyuk

While a player can hand in a walkover at any point in the match, the manner in which the Ukrainian did it was surprising as she just walked off the court. The other matter of concern remains why did she quit after having played the first set. Had it been a walk-off in protest against the Russian players, Marta could have refused to play at the start itself. With many awaiting the reason for the walk-off, the Ukrainian remained unavailable for comments after the match as well.

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