“Really hurts me,” Marta Kostyuk bashes policies allowing Russian players to compete in tournaments, points to World No. 1 Daniil Medvedev
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Marta Kostyuk and Daniil Medvedev
The Russia-Ukraine war has left the world in turmoil. On March 11, talks between Ukraine’s and Russia’s foreign ministers failed to offer any relief to the two countries’ ongoing war. More than two million people have fled the country, and major cities are under attack, as Russian President Vladimir Putin‘s conflict in Ukraine enters its 16th day. Several people have died in the community. Sportsmen have also been affected, and many in the tennis world have expressed their support for Ukraine.
The shaky tennis consensus on Russian players’ ongoing participation is already being put to the test. Many people have removed their flags from their accounts and are now competing in tournaments as neutral players. Marta Kostyuk, a teen Ukrainian star, is dissatisfied with the Russian player policies. After reaching the second round of the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California, she unleashed a stinging attack on the policy.
She questioned why her Russian colleagues are permitted to play as neutral players, pointing at Medvedev and accused them of being unconcerned about her country’s plight. “I don’t agree with the action that has been taken,’ she said, in reference to the current decision of the tours and Grand Slams to permit the likes of world No 1 Daniil Medvedev to continue their careers. Look at the other sports, look at the big sports, what they did, that’s it. Seeing (Russian) players on-site really hurts me.” the 19-year-old said.
Marta Kostyuk unhappy with shallow peace gestures from tennis stars
After a 6-7 7-6 7-5 victory over Ukrainian-born Belgian Maryna Zanevska, Kostyuk was overcome with emotion. Any peace initiatives that stop short of criticizing the invasion do not please the 19-year-old world No 54. “You cannot be neutral in this,’ she said. ‘These ‘No war’ statements, they hurt me because they have no substance. And seeing them (Russian players) having the only problem of not being able to transfer the money and stuff – that’s what they are talking about – this is unacceptable for me.” she said.
She also brought up the fact that none of the fraternity members has come forward to apologize to her. While several of them texted her, none of them expressed regret for the situation in her nation.
“What’s going on is not a secret. You don’t have to be into politics to know what’s going on, to know who invaded who, who is bombing who. As for the circuit, what is very disappointing is that no Russian player came to see me. None have told me they’re sorry for what their country is doing to mine. One player messaged me, another chatted with me, but I didn’t hear any apologies, I didn’t hear anyone telling me they didn’t support what was going on. To me, that’s shocking,” the Ukrainian pointed out with disappointment.
Her comments heighten the implications for the sport’s administrators, particularly Wimbledon, in maintaining the policy of letting Russians and Belarussians to compete, while Kostyuk exempted the latter category from her criticism. Many in the system’s structure are already concerned about the implications of having someone like Medvedev carrying trophies overhead. They can’t argue they weren’t forewarned of how that would turn out.
However, it is also evident that some Russian players are afraid of the repercussions of speaking out, particularly the backlash they and their families may face at home, making it a sensitive topic to touch upon.
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Shilpi Pusadkar
(106 Articles Published)