The Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) says they do not support an event taking place in Russia this weekend but will not take any action against those participating.
The Trophies of North Palmyra is an international team exhibition event that is being held across three days between December 1-3 in Saint Petersburg. It has a similar concept to that of the Laver Cup with two teams facing off against each other with the captains being Svetlana Kuznetsova and Nikolay Davydenko. Five out of the 13 participants are Russian players, including Karen Khachanov and Veronika Kudermetova. The international attendees are Roberto Bautista Agut, Alexander Bublik, Yulia Putintseva, Jasmine Paolini, Viktoriya Tomova, Dusan Lajovic, Laslo Djere and Adrian Mannarino.
Currently, Tour-level events are banned from being held in Russia as a result of the war in Ukraine which began on February 24th. More than 10,000 civilians have been killed in Ukraine since Russia launched their invasion, according to the U.N. Human Rights Office. The country is also currently suspended from playing in team events by the ITF.
Due to the ongoing conflict, the decision of some players to play in Russia has drawn criticism. However, the WTA has confirmed in an email to Reuters that they will be taking no action against their players.
“This event is not affiliated with the WTA nor is the WTA supportive of the event being held,” the WTA stated.
“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.”
Reuters also tried to contact the ATP but they didn’t receive a response on the matter. Although it is expected that they will take a similar stance to that of the WTA.
The event is being sponsored by the Russian energy giant Gazprom. Some of its board members have been sanctioned by international governments due to the war.
“Is it okay to promote sanctioned companies?” World No.31 Lesia Tsurenko wrote on social media platform X, tagging both the ATP and WTA in it.
There are yet to be any comments from those taking part in the event. According to a press release (in Russian only), the schedule of the exhibition will be the following:-
- December 1 (Friday) – Junior matches, the opening of the tournament and two matches of professionals.
- December 2 (Saturday) – junior final, four singles matches and a legends match.
- December 3 (Sunday) – final for juniors, five matches of the team tournament and closing ceremony
Details about financial incentives on offer have not been made public.