WTA President: “We support the Ukrainians at the highest level”

WTA CEO Steve Simon She explained how the Women’s Tennis Federation reacted to the provocation of Russian tennis player Anastasia Potapova, who went to the match in Indian Wells wearing the shirt of the Spartak football club.

We continue to do our best for Ukrainian players. We have done a lot for our athletes, although I know that there are different opinions on this matter.

What happened in Ukraine deserves condemnation. You cannot support what is happening there or what the Russian government is doing. We spoke directly to Anastasia Potapova and also warned her to report this as inappropriate and I don’t think we will see more cases like this in the future.

We support the Ukrainians at the highest level and I don’t think any of us can properly understand what they are going through. We continue to communicate with [российскими и белорусскими игроками] and make them understand that everything is very sensitive here and they are competing as neutral athletes. I think there is a strong understanding about this.

We’ve always had a position – and it was the main position of this round – that every player who has a right to play should have a right to play. And this is independent of any decisions that can be taken by their governments. We are committed to it and will stick to it. We think a neutral approach is appropriate,” said Simon.