SVITOLINA: “Athletes from the Russian Federation at the Olympics under a neutral flag is a bad message”

World’s third oldest racket Elina Svitolina He told about his visit to Ukraine and his impressions of what he saw.

“I was at home in Odessa, I saw my grandmother. It was our first encounter since the beginning of a large-scale war. He was very happy to see me. It was very difficult to see Irpen, Bucha, I am doing my best in that direction. It was very difficult. As a tennis player, I will do everything in my power to defend our front.

Unfortunately nothing was done in tennis. They just play under a neutral flag. When the war started, tennis organizations said they were for peace and wanted everyone to have equal rights. They don’t hear us there. If Russian and Belarusian athletes represent themselves at the Games under a neutral flag, it will be a very bad message to the whole world. Ukrainians are not on equal terms. There are many athletes who died defending Ukraine.

The proposal to act as a refugee team and will Russia accept it? That’s so funny to hear. Initially, we had attempts to speak to the Russian players, but on their part there was fear of saying a word and lack of any support.

France has great support for Ukraine and the Ukrainians, the French have done a lot for our refugees. We spoke with French director Michel Hazanavicius, who is currently the ambassador of United24. We didn’t know each other before. He was very surprised to see what was happening in Ukraine. I am very glad that the French are supporting us,” Elina said on the national telethon.