Lesia Tsurenko: "It's very difficult for Ukrainians to play against Russians"

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The war between Russia and Ukraine has unfortunately continued unabated for more than a year. This war has inevitably also affected sport where many of the Ukrainian sportsmen present on the globe have families who continue to fight in their country.

As far as tennis is concerned, in the past but also currently some Ukrainian players had expressed their opposite opinion on the behavior of Russian players on the circuit. Among these Lesia Tsurenko, one of the most important names in the Ukrainian tennis scene.

The athlete underlined several important aspects: "A year ago, Steve Simon told us that if a player showed support for Russia's actions in this war, she would be sanctioned. Then, a year later, he completely changed his attitude and said that supporting the war is okay.

It really shocked me, I couldn't get my head around it."

Lesia Tsurenko: "It's difficult to play against Russians"

Another topic is about the Olympic Games which will be held next year in Paris where it seems that Russian athletes could participate.

lesia said about it: "I have a feeling that now the Olympic Committee is using tennis as a sort of example. they make it seem like everything is fine in tennis, that the Russians play first and that is not a problem, and I would say they will use this in their decision on the Games.

However, this is a problem. It is very difficult for Ukrainians to play against a Russian or a Belarusian for many reasons. The WTA and the Olympic Committee look at this sport only from the point of view of the rights of Russians and Belarusians, completely ignoring the violation of the rights of Ukrainians." And on the upcoming Roland Garros she added: "My message for the Roland Garros is the same as I have said for other sports: we just have to go out there and beat them on the court.

There is no reason for Ukrainian athletes to give up, what kind of message would that be? We have tried many things in tennis to try to sanction Russians and Belarusians, but the institutions of sport don't want to listen to us."