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Svitolina, back on the tour at the Charleston
Open after a maternity break, spoke to support fellow Ukrainian
player Lesia Tsurenko, who said she withdrew from the Indian
Wells tournament because of a panic attack brought on by a
conversation the 33-year-old had days earlier with WTA chief
executive Steve Simon about tennis's response to the Russian
invasion.
"We are afraid, we feel empty. What is happening to Lesia is
very sad. People who haven't experienced it can't really
understand what it feels like to have no home, to feel safe
nowhere, to have family in Ukraine, under the bombs, to know
that Ukrainian cities are being destroyed. It's both fear and a
great emptiness," Svitolina, who was the world number 20 when
she took a break from the tour to give birth, told French sports
daily l'Equipe.
"The WTA should have done more, much more, on many issues. Now
it's too late. There have been a lot of press releases, a lot of
interviews. It was useless," she said.
The WTA, along with men's body ATP, welcomed Wimbledon
organisers' decision to lift a ban on Russian and Belarusian
players last Friday, allowing them to compete in the grasscourt
Grand Slam this year as "neutral" athletes.
Last week, Ukrainian tennis player Marta Kostyuk said
International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach was wrong
to argue that Russian and Belarus athletes can return to
international competitions because they already compete without
friction in some sports.
Asked what her reaction would be if they would be allowed to
take part in next year's Olympics in Paris, Svitolina said: "I
don't think about it. It's up to the Olympic Committee and the
Ukrainian Committee to think about it and do their job! My job,
as a player, is to get ready."
(Reporting by Julien Pretot; Editing by Angus MacSwan)
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