tennis coach Lesia Tsurenko Nikita Vlasov He commented on the Ukrainian woman’s decision to withdraw from the 1/16 final match of the WTA 1000 series tournament against Belarusian Arina Sobolenko at Indian Wells:

– Actually, Lesya told probably no more than 10 percent of everything that happened. The story began with a series of American tournaments. At first, two tournaments were held in Mexico. It seems like everything is ok, places are nice but there were many problems. For example, the organizers provided only crazy drivers. They were running at an incredible speed. As a result, several players were injured along the way.

Lesya, fortunately, was fine with this, but she had problems with her arm – this is a chronic injury since last season. We agreed that Lesya would not vomit on the field so as not to aggravate the injury. We arrived in Mexico and the organizers chose very heavy balls, there were tough courts.

A minute and a half after the match, the ball increases in size, almost doubles and becomes heavier. And you understand how stressful it is for the hand. Lesya qualified in both tournaments, but withdrew from the main draw due to health issues. The risk that he would aggravate the injury and then miss part of the season was too great.

We played mainly in Mexico and flew to Indian Wells. we wanted to talk there [исполнительным директором WTA Стивом] Simon, because Tsurenko had a lot of questions for himself. Even before qualification, Lesya requested a meeting. He was told that the meeting would certainly take place, but by now he had work to do.

– What questions did Lesya want to ask the officer?

– Exactly a year ago, Ukrainian tennis players met with Simon at this tournament and discussed what to do with Russian and Belarusian athletes on the battlefield in Ukraine. Should they be allowed to compete or not, and what steps will the WTA take in general? Ukrainians, as I recall, came to Steve with a request that representatives of Belarus and Russia not be allowed to participate in tournaments under the auspices of the WTA. Then Steve said: “I totally understand you, but we’re not going to make hasty decisions. Let’s see the situation.”

And now, a year later, Lesya came to Simon and said: “A year has passed, you watched, but WTA did nothing for the Ukrainians.” And he offered to calculate what has changed between Ukrainians, Russians and Belarusians in the past due to Russia’s attack on Ukraine. Everything is perfectly clear: Ukrainians cannot fly home, they cannot train in their homeland, they cannot take medicine in Ukraine, they cannot recover there.

If an athlete is tired during the season and wants to breathe, he can’t just fly home and hug his family because the country continues to be bombed. In addition, Ukrainians incur huge housing costs, as they constantly have to live in hotels and rented apartments to provide shelter for their families who are deported to Europe. Also, in the EU, athletes pay coaches and rent courts. And Ukrainians will actively donate their personal money to support the military and the civilian population.

What about Russians and Belarusians? They raised the flag next to the name. All! At the same time, Anastasia Gasanova from Russia openly supported the war, repeating all the narratives of Putin. For you to understand, on the eve of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, he trained with our coaches and on our grounds in Kiev. And now he’s saying this.

In general, in a conversation with Simon, Lesya listed all the moments that worried her about the participation of Belarusians and Russians in tournaments, and the official said that he did not see any problems, everything was fine. Will the WTA provide any assistance to Ukrainian women? No, the association will not change its policy. And if one of the players supports the war, then that’s not very good of course, but that’s their personal opinion and it’s their right to say so. No one will judge or punish players for this. Lesya asks: “But how would you feel if you were in my place?”

He replies: “Of course, that’s terrible, but I’m not in your shoes and you’re doing pretty well.” As a result, Simon made it clear that it was normal for him to play in the same round with the Ukrainians suffering from the war and the representatives of Russia and Belarus, who had just started this war. It’s sad for the Ukrainians, but it won’t change anything because I repeat, even though Belarusians and Russians support the war, that’s their personal opinion. And Simon was almost plain text saying that he favored allowing Russians and Belarusians to compete in the 2024 Olympics.

Lesya says: “Do you understand that if this happens, Ukrainian women will automatically miss the Games?” To which the official replied: “Well, it’s your decision, your politicians decide for themselves, and we will not interfere anywhere.” It was a really long conversation and as a result, Simon said, “Ukrainian women will not be helped and I will continue to monitor the situation.” What did he do a year ago? I watched too. In fact, the fate of Ukrainian women does not care.

I think everyone understands what emotional state Lesia was in at that moment. The conversation took place on Thursday, the day before the new match. I was sitting nearby in the hotel lobby and heard almost everything. And when Lesya finished talking and came to me, I saw that she had a veil over her eyes. She told me in detail what Simon had replied to her, she. To be honest, I wanted to “loose” this attendant. But Lesya held me back – we continued to prepare for the match with Vekic.

Tsurenko was simply no, and I even suggested that he withdraw from the tournament, which he said would not do so. For example, once you come, you have to fight to the end. Lesya went to the match, the first set was very bad, she lost. That’s when he grit his teeth and pulled out the duel. I waited two and a half hours for him to come out of the locker room.

It turned out that Lesya cried all this time, was hysterical. He then told me that Steve Simon stood before his eyes, repeating his words in his head that Russians and Belarusians are free to think and say whatever they want about the war in Ukraine. Even if they support the war, that’s their right. Leslie couldn’t think of anything else.

– And in the next round, Tsurenko must play against Belarusian Arina Sobolenko.

– Yes, against a tennis player who supports the Lukashenka regime and has not raised his voice against the war for a year. He even made it clear that this was normal for him, that he had done nothing wrong,” Vlasov said.