The tennis tournament in the French Bourg-de-Page was planned by the organizers as an interesting exhibition event with the participation of famous players. However, their plans were dashed by stupid whims allegedly on political grounds. Because of this, we had to urgently change plans.

There is no way they will find justice for the scandalous tennis player.

Knew about my rivals in advance

Six men and three women gathered in Bourg-de-Page. The organizers of the Negometal Open tournament invited Australian Alex de Minaur, Belgian David Goffin and four Frenchmen – Adrian Mannarino, Arthur Rinderknech, Luca Pouille and Ianis Gazouani Duran – to the men’s draw. In the women’s section, the Russian Mirra Andreeva, the newly minted Frenchwoman Varvara Gracheva and Donna Vekic from Croatia were announced.

True, adjustments had to be made already during the tournament. Vekic refused to play due to injury, and the organizing committee quickly found a replacement for her in the person of Marta Kostyuk. Since the Croatian went straight to the final, the Ukrainian took her place in the title match. All that remained was to wait to see who would be the opponent – Gracheva or Andreeva Jr.

Kostyuk knew that she could play with the Russian in the final. Therefore, her next steps came as a surprise to everyone.

A stab in the back for the organizers

In the semi-finals, Andreeva dealt with Gracheva without any problems – 6:1, 6:2. The organizers noted the power of the 16-year-old native of Krasnoyarsk, and at the same time felt sorry for Varvara, who clearly did not deserve such a defeat.

Mirra Andreeva / Photo: © VCG / Contributor / Visual China Group / Gettyimages.ru

In the final, Mirra was preparing to play with Marta Kostyuk. But the Ukrainian suddenly abandoned the match, citing the geopolitical situation. The girl didn’t even want to fight for the good fee that, according to some sources, she was offered in Bourg-de-Page. Kostyuk simply didn’t come onto the court!

This behavior of the Ukrainian woman became a stab in the back for the organizers. They didn’t have time to find the second finalist, so they had to get out on the spot.

“We have done everything possible to activate our network of professional players. But, unfortunately, there was too little time to find a replacement. We have decided that our Yanis Ghazouani Duran will play against Mirra Andreeva in the final,” the tournament’s organizing committee said in a statement on social networks.

To the credit of the young Russian woman, she imposed a worthy fight on the 23-year-old man. But they failed to win – 5:7, 2:6. Thus, the champion of the tournament in the women’s bracket became… a man! And even then little-known: Duran is in 1145th place in the ATP rankings.

Mirra Andreeva / Photo: © Tim Clayton – Corbis / Contributor / Corbis Sport / Gettyimages.ru

This is not the first time Andreeva has suffered from Ukrainian women

One can only sympathize with the organizers. They clearly did not expect such whims from Marta Kostyuk, the 39th racket in the world. Unfortunately, her unprofessional and unsportsmanlike behavior added headaches to the organizing committee of the French tournament. At the same time, this is not the first time that Andreeva has encountered inappropriate behavior of tennis players from Ukraine. So in July 2023, Dayana Yastremskaya, after losing to Mirra in Lausanne, turned to the WTA with a demand to disqualify the 16-year-old Russian woman for… likes on social networks. Moreover, Dayana told about her snitching herself.

But if the WTA cannot exclude Ukrainian women from participating in competitions, then the organizers of exhibition tournaments have every lever not to invite brawlers from this country. It will be better for everyone.