WTA confirms players won’t face any penalties following their participation in Gazprom-backed exhibition event in Russia despite outrage by the Ukrainian tennis federation 

A handful of players from the top 100 in the world will feature at this exhibition event in Russia.

WTA confirms players won’t face any penalties following their participation in Gazprom-backed exhibition event in Russia despite outrage by the Ukrainian tennis federation 

Jasmine Paolini (L) and Veronika Kudermetova (R) will take part in the exhibition event in Russia (Images via Tennis Majors, Getty)

The Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) has confirmed that it will not take any action against the players who will take part in the Gazprom-backed exhibition event in Russia. Although the WTA does not support the exhibition event, it will not punish any of its players for participating in the event despite uproar from the Ukrainian Tennis Federation. 

The WTA has said that the players take part in the WTA tour tournaments as independent contractors and hence can take part in any type of event during the off-season. The women’s tennis governing body, however, clearly stated that it does not support the event being staged in Russia. 

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This event is not affiliated with the WTA nor is the WTA supportive of the event being held. Players compete on the WTA Tour as independent contractors and, at their discretion, have the ability to participate in an exhibition without penalty during the off-season.
WTA siad in a statement. (H/T: Daily Express)

It is worth noting that the WTA and ATP have moved their tournaments out of Russia since their invasion of Ukraine. While the ATP 250 tournament has been moved from St Petersburg to Kazakhstan from 2022 onwards, the WTA 500 event, the St. Petersburg Ladies’ Trophy, was moved to Ostrava in 2022. The Kremlin Cup – a former ATP and WTA event in Moscow – was also scrapped as a result of the conflict.

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Players from Russia and Belarus also faced a ban for a while before things resorted to partial normalcy. While WTA and ATP continue to hold their ban on Russia from staging any of their tournaments, the state-owned energy giant Gazprom has organized an exhibition event.

Who all will take part in Russia’s exhibition tennis tournament?

The Gazprom-backed tennis exhibition event also called The Northern Palmyra Trophies tournament will see quite a few big names taking part in the completion. While local players like Veronika Kudermetova, Anastasia Potapova, and Karen Khachanov have signed up for the event, international players like Jasmine Paolini and Alexander Bublik will also feature in the tournament.

karen khachanov titles
Karen Khachanov (Image via CNN)

The players are divided into two teams- Lions and Sphinxes. Svetlana Kuznetsova and Nikolay Davydenko are the two captains while Khachanov and Kudermetova are the top seeds of their respective categories.

A few other names include former French and U.S. Open quarter-finalist Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan, Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain and France’s Adrian Mannarino.

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