The Vice-President of the FTU explained why tennis players are not expelled from the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus

Executive Director and Vice President of the Ukrainian Tennis Federation Evgeny Zukin believes that the complete expulsion of athletes from the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus is not yet possible.

“Mr. Vadim Gutzeit and I throw the ball at each other and I don’t like it very much. We have absolutely the same position on the complete elimination of Russians and Belarusians. We are all trying to achieve this. But since we can’t even do that together, then our favorite Ukrainian story “find the culprit” begins with us. .

For our part, we are doing everything possible to achieve this. Our position on this issue has been open to the public since the first days of the war. A year has passed, but the situation is clear. We believe that all Russians and Belarusians represent their country. While the war is raging, they should be isolated within their own country and not perform on the biggest sports arenas, giving their leaders a reason to brag about their achievements, thus emphasizing the victories of the aggressor states.

Is it now possible to influence WTA and ATP? In short, no. After all, there is a complete consensus between ATP and WTA that tennis players are not representatives of countries, but act individually. Players have contracts with ATP and WTA, so these organizations are employers. ATP and WTA are unions that protect the interests of their players, regardless of their nationality. This is my retelling of their position and the arguments they trust and will not deviate from. They support the players to keep playing, because each of them is worried that if their government does something bad, he will be the one to be sacked tomorrow. They will hold on to each other. If there are three or four Ukrainian players who oppose it, they will be in an absolute minority. This problem. After all, democracy works in such a way that the majority decides for the minority.