Iga SVENTEK: “ATP and WTA did nothing after the start of the war in Ukraine”

World number 1 in women’s singles Iga Sventek (Poland) held a press conference after their victory over Sloane Stevens (USA, WTA 51):

– I’m happy that I played well from start to finish because I had problems during the performance in Cincinnati, now I think I’m playing more stable. So I am satisfied with this performance.

As for the 1/16 game with Lauren Davis, I’d say we trained together a few years ago. To be honest, I don’t know how he plays now, so I understand how he used to play but now I don’t watch his games. I am sure that I will try to focus on myself, be active and ensure that the rhythm of the game is intense. Let’s prepare tactically.

– There was a really tense moment after the match between Azarenka and Kostyuk. They didn’t shake hands, there was a lot…

– I did not see.

– Both Marta Kostyuk and Victoria Azarenka talked about this. What were your thoughts on what you were trying to do and what ATP and WTA could try to do to get themselves involved, not to rectify the situation? Are you aware that there is hostility in the locker room between players from occupied countries?

Well, I guess it’s too late now. So it’s never too late, but when the war started, ATP or WTA did nothing. Then the tension in the locker rooms was pretty great. I think it’s gotten really bad now. If someone guides us and someone, I don’t know, organizes some kind of meeting between the players that will show us that we should be united. There are countries that attack other countries, but we are tennis players, it’s sad but it’s not our fault that this happened, but we have to do something. Therefore, it will be much easier to take such steps from the very beginning. Yes, it seems too late to fix this now. But I think it just depends on the players, their personal relationships, how they deal with it, how they communicate with each other.

For its part, it is now easy to say that perhaps leadership behavior was lacking from the very beginning. But at that moment I didn’t know what to do. But there are people smarter than me, so they should have an idea of ​​what to do and how to do it.