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Victoria Azarenka says she does not agree with Iga Swiatek's take regarding the WTA's support of Ukraine. In Indian Wells, Swiatek criticized the WTA, urging them to do more to support Ukrainian players. Azarenka, a Belarusian tennis star who is a member of the WTA Player Council, is now telling Swiatek to do a bit of research before she comments on such a sensitive topic.
"Obviously, there are certain players that have different feelings and behaviours. Overall, I don’t necessarily share the same opinion as Iga does. I would encourage her to look at the things that have been done before she makes comments.
Obviously, as a player council (member), I am happy to provide all those facts that have been done. And I think that would be a more appropriate way to have that conversation," Azarenka said, per Tennis Up To Date.
Azarenka does not share the same opinion as Swiatek
In Indian Wells, Ukraine's Lesia Tsurenko said she suffered a panic attack before her third-round match against Belarusia's Aryna Sabalenka.
In the end, Tsurenko never got on the court as the Ukrainian gave a walkover to Sabalenka. Then, Russia's Anastasia Potapova came out on the court for her Indian Wells third-round match wearing a Russian football club Spartak Moscow shirt.
After those two incidents, Swiatek called for the WTA to show more support to Ukrainian players. "I feel there should be done a little bit more to help Ukrainian players because I feel like everything we discuss in tennis is more about Belarusian and Russian players and if they should be allowed.
I don't think that's right because we should focus more on helping Ukrainian players and providing them everything that they need. They basically have to take care of like all their families, and there's a lot of baggage on their shoulders," Swiatek said in Indian Wells.