Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk says the WTA Tour has ignored a request for a gathering with gamers from the war-torn nation within the newest indicators of the conflict-related tensions in girls’s tennis.
Kostyuk, cheered on by Ukrainian followers seated behind nationwide flags, was crushed by Russian Anastasia Potapova on the Miami Open on Thursday and left the courtroom with out shaking the hand of her opponent.
Speaking to reporters after the loss, Kostyuk opened up concerning the frustration she and different Ukrainian gamers are feeling.
Her compatriot, Lesia Tsurenko, had stated earlier this month that the gamers had requested for a gathering after she pulled out of Indian Wells forward of a conflict with Aryna Sabelenka of Belarus.
Kostyuk stated the request had up to now been ignored.
“Yes, we wanted to have the meeting with the board and we didn’t get one. No reply, nothing, just silence,” she instructed reporters.
The WTA didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark from AFP.
Kostyuk stated she didn’t need to go into particulars concerning the points that the gamers wished to debate.
“I mean, once we’re in the meeting we can talk about it. Before the meeting, I don’t think it’s a good idea to talk about what we want to talk about there,” she stated.
Potapova obtained a proper warning from the WTA after sporting a Spartak Moscow soccer shirt earlier than a match in Indian Wells and Kostyuk didn’t seem impressed by that response.
“There are a lot of things that I don’t agree with that WTA is doing. This not going to change anything,” she stated.
“I’ll just get more hate online. Whatever I say, I will get a lot of hate. I don’t know. Warning, whatever. You give her a warning… You can suspend someone, I don’t know. I can’t comment on that really, it’s just funny,” she stated.
Tsurenko’s coach, Nikita Vlasov, has been extremely crucial of the WTA in feedback reported by Ukrainian web sites and world primary Iga Swiatek of Poland has referred to as for extra to be completed.
“I feel more should be done to help Ukrainian players because everything we discuss in tennis is about Belarusian and Russian players,” she stated.
On Tuesday Sabalenka stated she had confronted “hate” within the locker room and advised she had been in a row with Vlasov.
Asked about tensions, the 20-year-old Kostyuk stated she had not been concerned in any incidents however stated there was an apparent actuality.
“I might not say, ‘Hi,’ to some players, but I never approached anyone, never talked to anyone. Maybe I myself spread hate just by being there,” she stated.
“I don’t know what people come up with. Obviously there is tension, we’re not friends, we’re at war at the moment.”
Kostyuk, ranked thirty eighth on the planet, received her first WTA title earlier this month, beating Russian Varvara Gracheva on the ATX Open in Austin.
Asked whether or not she was in a position to block out ideas of battle when she was on courtroom, Kostyuk stated:
“It depends on the day. I never know. I can think what I want to think, I can do what I can do, but the moment I step out on the court I don’t know what I’m going to get out of myself,” she stated, including that she did attempt to keep away from news forward of video games.
“I think it’s just healthy to avoid any kind of news because mostly for the past year most of the news I receive are horrible and bad.
“I believe it is drowning to simply learn the news general it doesn’t matter what it’s about.”