Ukraine’s Lesia Tsurenko has claimed that the International Olympic Committee is trying to use tennis as an example to justify Russia’s inclusion in the 2024 Games.
The world No.63 has hit out at both the IOC and WTA for looking at sport from the perspective of a Russian player amid the ongoing war in her home country. Following the launch of Russia’s military offensive against Ukraine in February 2022, players from that country are only allowed to compete on the Tour under a neutral status and their national federation have been suspended from team events. The same penalty has also been issued to Belarus whose government is accused of supporting the war.
Tsurenko has previously called for tougher penalties to be in place against Russian players due to the conflict. Earlier this year, she said she had a panic attack after speaking to WTA CEO Steve Simon who said she shouldn’t get upset if some of her peers supported the war as it is just their opinion. Speaking to the AFP News Agency, she described the incident as an ‘unpleasant conversation.’
“I was so shocked that a year ago Steve Simon told us if any player will show their support for the war, this person will be banned,” she said.
“Then one year on he changes his attitude to, ‘it is ok to support the war’.
“It shocked me so much it just blew my mind.”
Simon and other tennis governing bodies have argued against calls for a ban to be implemented because players shouldn’t be punished for the actions of their regimes. Last year Wimbledon became the first and only major event to implement a ban amid concerns that the Russian government could use their players as propaganda. The All England Club has reversed their decision for this year’s tournament.
Another talking point is the Olympics with calls being made for Russia’s exclusion from the 2024 Games in Paris. Tsurenko believes tennis’ policy of allowing players from Russia to continue playing on the Tour alongside their Ukrainian peers could be something used by the IOC to support their inclusion in the event.
“I have a feeling now the IOC is using tennis as some kind of bridge… to say tennis is all good, they are playing against each other and it is not a problem and will use that in their decision about the Olympics,” she said.
“But it is a problem. It is very tough for Ukrainians to play against Russia and Belarus because of many reasons.
“The WTA and IOC are only looking at sports from a perspective of Russian and Belarusian human rights and ignore the violations of the Ukrainians’ rights.”
Historically there have been examples of countries being banned from the Olympic Games for a variety of reasons. South Africa was not invited to participate between 1964 and 1988 due to its support for the apartheid system. More recently, Afghanistan was barred from the 2000 Sydney Olympics due to its discrimination against women under the Taliban regime.
Tsurenko admits that she is feeling ‘stressed’ about the possibility of having to play a Russian or Belarussian player at next week’s French Open. A tournament where her best result was reaching the fourth round in 2018. Should such a scenario occur, she has a strong message.
“My message for the French Open is it is like what I said about other sports – we just have to go and beat them on any field,” she said.
“There is no sense for Ukrainian sportsmen to give up. What sort of message does that give?
“In tennis we tried so many things to ban them and the tennis organisations do not want to listen to us.”
The French Open will get underway on Sunday.
