The WTA has confirmed that it's “not supportive” of an exhibition event going down in Russia this week. However, the ladies’s tour is not going to be penalising their gamers for competing within the controversial occasion, which is being staged by state-owned power big Gazprom. It comes after a number of stars signed as much as play, together with world No 30 Jasmine Paolini and Kazakh ace Yulia Putintseva.

The Northern Palmyra Trophies exhibition event is being held in St Petersburg later this week, with a bunch of prime gamers participating. Regular tennis tournaments are presently not allowed to be staged in Russia, with the ATP and WTA suspending official occasions when the conflict broke out in Ukraine final yr.

As an exhibition, the Gazprom-backed contest is allowed to happen within the nation and has attracted some massive names. The occasion has sparked outrage on social media and the ladies’s tennis tour has now confirmed that gamers concerned is not going to face any penalties - regardless that they don’t help the event.

“This event is not affiliated with the WTA nor is the WTA supportive of the event being held,” the WTA stated in an announcement. “Players compete on the WTA Tour as independent contractors and, at their discretion, have the ability to participate in an exhibition without penalty during the off-season.”

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As nicely as Paolini and Putintseva, a number of Russian gamers together with Veronika Kudermetova and Anastasia Potapova will probably be competing. On the boys’s aspect, Russian world No 15 Karen Khachanov will probably be taking part in alongside the likes of Adrian Mannarino and Roberto Bautista Agut. Players are set to be cut up into groups, with Svetlana Kuznetsova and Nikolay Davydenko among the many captains.

St Petersburg was the host metropolis of an everyday ATP 250 occasion however the event was abolished and moved to Kazakhstan from 2022 onwards in response to the invasion of Ukraine. A WTA 500 occasion, St. Petersburg Ladies' Trophy, was moved to Ostrava in 2022.