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Tsurenko said the attack was triggered by a
chat she had with WTA Chief Executive Steve Simon about tennis's
response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Belarus has been a key
staging ground for what Moscow calls a "special military
operation".
Poland's Swiatek, who wears a Ukrainian flag on her cap during
matches, has previously condemned Russia's invasion and said the
action taken by the tennis leadership had not been enough.
"I totally understand why she withdrew, because honestly I
respect Ukrainian girls so much. If a bomb landed in my country
or if my home was destroyed, I don't know if I could handle that
and compete," Swiatek said.
"You have to really mentally be there to compete every week. So
I get that she wasn't ready to do that.
"I feel 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 that's right, because we should focus more on
helping Ukrainian players and providing them everything they
need because they basically have to take care of all their
families, and there's a lot of baggage on their shoulders."
Swiatek had also criticised Anastasia Potapova after she sparked
outrage by wearing a T-shirt of Russian soccer team Spartak
Moscow before her match against Jessica Pegula.
Swiatek said such situations could have easily been avoided.
"At the beginning we didn't have proper leadership to guide us
through all of that," Swiatek said. "There's a lot of tension in
the locker room that obviously is going to be there because
there's a war.
"But maybe it should be a little bit less if WTA put some action
at the beginning to explain to everybody what's right and what's
not."
(Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in Bengaluru; Editing by Peter
Rutherford)
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