of Russia Anastasia Potapova raged on indian wells after wearing one Spartak Moscow Football shirt ahead of her third round match with Jessica Pegula.
world number one inga swotek Potapova and said that Russian players should not publicly show support for the country during the invasion of Ukraine.
This comes after the Ukrainian player Lesia Surenko She said that she withdrew from the tournament after a panic attack. Surenko was to face Belarus’ Aryna Sabalenka in the third round on Sunday.
Tsurenko said she was “absolutely shocked” after discussions with WTA chief Steve Simon, while Swiatek said she also raised concerns after the latest incident to hit the tour.
Potapova, 21, said she has supported Russian Premier League team Spartak Moscow since the age of 13 and said she saw no excitement in it.
“To be honest, I was surprised,” said Poland’s Swiatek, who wears the Ukrainian flag on her hat during her matches, after her third-round win over Bianca Andreescu. “I thought the player realized that even though he is a fan of the team, he shouldn’t be showing his views like this at such a time.
“I have spoken to the WTA and in a way I have come to know that such situations should be less because they will explain to other players that you cannot promote any Russian team these days, which reassured me a bit.
“On the other hand, I think these situations happen unfortunately because this announcement should have been made a long time ago. There was a lot of chaos in the locker room at the beginning of the fight.
“It was not clear how to approach everything that was causing such unpleasant situations. I think if there was better leadership from the beginning, we might have avoided such situations.
Swiatek called for more support for Ukrainian players following Tsurenko’s decision to withdraw from Indian Wells, which gave reigning Australian Open champion Sabalenka a walkover in the fourth round.
“I completely understand why she held back, because honestly I respect Ukrainian girls a lot. If a bomb went off in my country or my house was destroyed, I don’t know if I would be able to handle it Or not.”
“You really have to be mentally prepared to compete every week. So I understood that she was not ready to do this.
“I think more should be done to help Ukrainian players because everything we discuss in tennis is about Belarusian and Russian players, if they should be allowed, what’s going on with them. .
“I don’t think it’s right, because we should focus more on helping Ukrainian players and providing them with everything they need because they basically have to take care of all their families, and they have a lot on their shoulders.” It’s a burden.”
