Lesya TSURENKO: “Bach’s words are manipulation”

Ukrainian tennis player Lesya Tsurenko, 33, has reacted to the IOC’s decision to recommend that international sports federations return athletes from Russia and Belarus to major sports.

“I want to clarify what the situation is in tennis. Because Herr Bach talks about tennis every time he speaks. As Marta Kostyuk said, we have been fighting since the beginning of the war to exclude rf/rb players from competitions.

Everything Mr. Bach says is pure manipulation. The head of the RTF does not want to talk about the fact that he is a tennis representative at the IOC. [Шамиль Тарпищев]. He also gives an example of a match played by the Ukrainian representative against a Russian tennis player at the Australian Open. While there are flags in the stadium, he does not say that the image of Putin (in clothes) during the match is an example of worthless sports behavior. We clearly saw that the ATP and WTA practically protect the Russians and Belarusians, and in general they forget about the Ukrainians, their rights, their well-being, the conditions under which they must perform.

In the Wimbledon example, we saw that rating points were obtained from tennis tours. This affected many players who lost positions, falling from 17 to 150. This is not just about Ukrainians. It’s about discrimination against players from many countries. We have an example of a tournament in Estonia where they held competitions without Russians and Belarusians. It was a great opportunity for the Ukrainians to play in the tournament and feel better there emotionally. There will be no more tournaments this season because there was too much pressure from the WTA. On the other hand, we see that Novak Djokovic is not currently participating in tournaments in the USA. [из-за требований по вакцинации]but no one touches the rating points.

We are in a situation where we are surrounded by players who have the potential to support war. But nobody wants to talk about it. Tennis players are trapped because our governing bodies tell us to play no matter what. There is an example when one of the Ukrainian tennis players wanted to enter the field with some kind of banner, but was forbidden to do so. The next day, his opponent from Russia withdrew from this match. That’s why everything possible is being done to prevent any action from Ukrainian players.”