Ukrainian tennis player on Monday, March 13 Lesya Tsurenko did not play against the second racket of the world Arina Sobolenko from Belarus.

The official reason is for personal reasons. But the 33-year-old Ukrainian soon commented on his decision in more detail:

“The reason for the refusal was a panic attack. Officially, “personal reasons” will be written, but in fact, these are breathing problems and hysteria.

I had a talk with Steve Simon, our CEO of WTA, a few days ago, and I was absolutely shocked by what I heard. He told me that he himself does not support the war, but if players from Russia and Belarus do, then it is just their own opinion and other people’s opinions should not upset me. He also noted that if this had happened to him and he had been in my place, he would have felt very bad.

He also expressed his confidence that the Russians and Belarus will return to the Olympics, saying that it will be just like in tennis now. He also said that “fair play” and Olympic principles were not violated, but rather the opposite. It is they who will perform at the Olympics will show that these principles work, that everyone is equal and that everyone has the opportunity to compete there. When asked if he understood that he said this to me during the active phase of the Russian military offensive in my country, he said yes, and that is his opinion.

I was absolutely shocked by this speech, and already in the last game (vs Donna Vekic – ed.) it was incredibly difficult to play, difficult to recover, and when it was time to go to the field today, I panicked. attack and I couldn’t get there. I hope I can digest all this information and be better prepared for the next tournament.

Our meeting with Steve Simon took place before the match with Donna Vekic. I had a few questions for him: for example, about the quality of the balls in Monterrey, where I couldn’t finish the tournament because of this, and many players complained of pain in their shoulders, hands and elbows. I also had a lot of questions about helping the Ukrainians and we went smoothly on sensitive topics and I heard all this from him. To be honest, I was under the impression that all this was mentally broken today.

For example, I asked the Ukrainians on the WTA tour if they would receive the same kind of assistance as they saw at the Australian Open, where the organizers provided each Ukrainian with as much additional accommodation and meals as needed upon request. I heard the answer to this question, “I’ll continue to monitor the situation”, meaning that it actually made it clear that there would be no help as there was no help all year.

Only the players of our group know about the conversation I had with Steve, with whom we are in constant communication, Elina. Also, everyone is in shock. We requested a conference call with the WTA Board to raise the question of how a man like Steve Simon can become a leader in the WTA and what we can do about it. How can we further understand that our organization is somehow protecting our rights? I don’t understand how in this world things like this have to be explained. It’s very surprising and very painful.”