Aryna Sabalenka assured that there is “a lot of tension” between the tennis players due to the war in Ukraine and defended that the WTA is doing the best it can to deal with this situation. The Belarusian, who qualified this Friday for the Indian Wells final, spoke about the relationship between the Russian, Belarusian and Ukrainian tennis players, the three countries directly involved in the war.
“Yes, of course there is a lot of tension between us. I mean, I still have this belief that I did not do anything wrong to the Ukrainians. Neither I, nor the Russian athletes, nor the Belarusian athletes, none of us did anything wrong. Even some of us are kind of helping. Not publicly, so to speak,” said Sabalenka, who will fight the title match against Kazakh Rybakina.
“No one can control the emotions of others. I think the WTA is doing the best it can to control it,” he said about the withdrawal in the third round of the Ukrainian Lesia Tsurenko, who did not jump on the court against Sabalenka due to a panic attack . The Belarusian said that she has also been through unpleasant situations in relation to this tension in the circuit.
On the other hand, Sabalenka hinted that, in addition to the panic attack and the “political situation” in Ukraine, Tsurenko’s decision could be related to her coach. “I think there’s something else. I had a really tough situation with her coach and the way he acted with me. So I think that man puts a lot of pressure on her,” he said.
“It has nothing to do with the WTA. I mean, they are doing the best they can. What can they do? No one of us has control in this situation. We are all trying to keep the locker room as calm as possible and understand that it is not ours. guilt and that we all understand the Ukrainians and we really feel bad for them. That’s all. I think I’ve talked a lot,” he concluded.
